From Zero Hedge: "Angry Pentagon Sources Leak Report Of Israel's 'Unhinged' Spying On US Officials." From the lede:
It's no secret that Israeli spying and surveillance is pervasive, and it is often even directed at its most powerful ally and backer, the United States. But the phenomenon has escalated of late, outraging Washington intelligence officials.
Behind the scenes of this alliance which mainstream media and pundits typically project as essentially untouchable, deep-seated friction is boiling over. In an unprecedented move, the Pentagon has officially elevated Israel's counterintelligence threat level to its highest possible category, driven by surging internal alarm that this primary Mideast regional ally is aggressively ramping up espionage operations targeting senior US officials - even Trump's own top Iran negotiator.
Despite a close bilateral alliance, multiple incidents since Israel's foundation that Israeli intelligence agencies (such as Mossad, Shin Bet, Aman, and the now-defunct LAKAM) have actively collected American political, military, scientific, and economic secrets.
The article hits the highlights of some of the worst spying scandals involving Israel (that we know of) including the Pollard Affair, noting that it appears that some of the military and intelligence information that Pollard provided to Israel may have been passed on to the Soviet Union.
However, this most recent concern is that Israel has stepped up its attempts to spy on the Trump administration in relation to negotiations with Iran. NBC reports:
The Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency in recent weeks issued the new counterintelligence threat assessment amid rising tensions between Israel and the U.S. over the way forward in the war with Iran, the officials said. They said the DIA posted an internal message, viewed by one of the current officials, that raised the level for Israel to “critical.”
The designation stems from concerns within the Pentagon that Israel is making a particular effort to surveil top U.S. officials to get information on the Trump administration’s internal deliberations and decision-making on the conflicts in the Middle East, the officials said.
The DIA assessment includes a seven-page document and features a chart, according to one of the current U.S. officials. The document says the assessment of Israel is that its ability to conduct human espionage and technical collection is at a “critical level,” according to the official.
It also identifies a series of specific incidents that heightened U.S. concerns, the official said.
Israel laughably denies that it spies on the U.S. but the NBC article goes on to note:
According to current and former diplomats and former national security officials, Israel for years has had a reputation for aggressive espionage even against the U.S., its closest ally. It’s a practice that has long raised concerns among national security and diplomatic officials, and U.S. intelligence officials closely monitor the issue, according to experts and the current and former U.S. officials.
Top U.S. officials often take extra care when traveling to Israel, sometimes using burner phones and computers and taking extreme caution when speaking in hotel rooms during official trips, the current and former U.S. officials and experts said.
Israel has “a hyper-aggressive intelligence service,” said Emily Harding, vice president of the Defense and Security Department and director of the intelligence, national security and technology program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington. “They are exceedingly interested in what we are up to,” Harding said of the Israelis.
Related:
- "Israel Crosses Iran’s Redline in a Mission to Prevent Trump From Signing a Peace Deal with Iran" by Larry C Johnson.
- "Three Lebanese Army members, including general, killed in IDF strike that could jeopardize US-brokered truce"--New York Post.
- "Trump insists Israel’s Netanyahu ‘won’t have any choice’ in accepting Iran peace deal after fresh strikes: ‘I call the shots’"--New York Post.
- "Trump scolds Netanyahu in testy phone call: ‘You could be left alone against Iran very soon’"--New York Post.
- "Iran says it’s halting Israel attacks after Trump tells both sides ‘stop shooting’"--New York Post.
No comments:
Post a Comment