The Pentagon Has a Problem With Its Closest Ally

The Defense Intelligence Agency raised Israel's counterintelligence threat level to "critical" in recent weeks — the highest category it assigns — according to reporting by NBC News and The New York Times, both citing current and former US officials.

This wasn't a routine reassessment. The DIA issued a seven-page internal document cataloging specific incidents that drove the decision. According to NBC News, that document also includes a chart detailing Israel's espionage capabilities and the particular activities that crossed the line.

Who Is Being Targeted

The names matter here. According to The New York Times, the primary targets of Israeli surveillance include:

• Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy handling Iran nuclear negotiations, Hamas ceasefire talks, and the Russia-Ukraine peace process
• Elbridge Colby, Pentagon Undersecretary of Defense for Policy — the same Colby who has publicly called for a "reset" in the US-Israel relationship
• Michael P. DiMino IV, one of Colby's key deputies

Israel is allegedly spying on the man negotiating America's Iran deal and the Pentagon official most likely to push back on Israeli interests. That's not random.

What "Critical" Actually Means

According to The New York Times, Israel's counterintelligence threat rating now exceeds that of every other US ally — and even surpasses some adversarial states. Israel, which receives roughly $3.8 billion in US military aid annually, now poses a greater spy threat than countries Washington considers outright enemies.

One senior official quoted by both NBC News and the Times described Israel's intelligence-gathering against US officials during Trump's second term as "unhinged."

That's not a word US officials typically use about allies.

The Phone Software Incident

Middle East Eye and the Anadolu Agency both reported a specific incident that fed into the DIA assessment: US defense personnel working in or with Israel reportedly discovered software secretly installed on their phones capable of intercepting communications.

The Defense Department declined to comment on that detail. No official has named which software. But the incident reportedly triggered heightened security protocols for US military personnel operating alongside Israeli forces.

What Israel and the White House Are Saying

Israel's embassy in Washington issued a flat denial to NBC News: "Israel does not gather intelligence on American entities, let alone US government officials."

The White House also dismissed the NBC report as false.

The Pentagon said nothing.

The claims aren't coming from anonymous bloggers. They're sourced to current and former US officials who spoke to two of the country's most established news outlets simultaneously. The DIA produced a seven-page internal document. That's not a rumor.

The Geopolitical Context

This espionage row isn't happening in a vacuum. It's happening against the backdrop of a genuine strategic split between Washington and Jerusalem.

Trump is pursuing a diplomatic off-ramp with Iran. Netanyahu wants Iran's government and military infrastructure destroyed. Those are fundamentally incompatible goals, and both sides know it.

According to The New York Times, American officials believe Israel is specifically trying to learn Trump's negotiating positions and internal deliberations on the Iran talks — intelligence that would give Netanyahu leverage to outmaneuver or undercut US diplomacy before a deal gets done.

Meanwhile, a provision currently before Congress would deepen US-Israeli military integration on weapons research, production, and technology — a move Middle East Eye notes would benefit Israel heavily. The DIA's new assessment could directly threaten that expansion if the Pentagon moves to restrict information-sharing with embedded Israeli officers.

What Mainstream Media Is Getting Wrong

Left-leaning outlets are framing this primarily as an indictment of Trump's foreign policy instability — as if the problem is Trump cozying up to Netanyahu rather than the underlying espionage itself.

That framing misses the point. This story is about a US ally conducting aggressive surveillance operations against American officials regardless of who's in the White House. That's a national security problem. It predates Trump. It will outlast him.

Right-leaning media has been largely quiet on the story, which is its own kind of distortion. If Iran or China were caught installing surveillance software on US military personnel's phones, it would dominate every conservative outlet for a week. The standard has to be the same.

The Stakes

The United States gives Israel billions of dollars a year, shares tactical and operational intelligence in real time, and has deployed military assets in direct support of Israeli operations. In return, Israel is allegedly running aggressive espionage against the very officials managing that relationship.

Both countries spy on each other — that's not new, and every intelligence professional knows it. But "unhinged" is the word a senior US official chose. The DIA put it in writing across seven pages. And the targets are the men sitting at America's most sensitive negotiating tables.