Despite a long-standing, albeit tolerated, history of mutual espionage between the United States and Israel, a recent report indicates that Israeli intelligence has significantly escalated its efforts to eavesdrop on senior American officials involved in peace talks with Iran, raising the US counterintelligence threat assessment for Israel to "critical." This heightened activity, allegedly including attempts to wiretap key negotiators like Steve Witkoff and Pentagon officials Elbridge Colby and Michael Dimino, has caused alarm within the US security establishment, particularly as US defense personnel in Israel detected surveillance software on their devices. While the US Department of Defense and White House have declined to comment or disputed the claims, former and current US officials suggest this aggressive intelligence gathering against Trump administration officials is "unbridled" and has intensified since late 2024, potentially impacting future military and intelligence cooperation between the two close allies.

Despite a long-standing, albeit tolerated, history of mutual espionage between the United States and Israel, a recent report indicates that Israeli intelligence has significantly escalated its efforts to eavesdrop on senior American officials involved in peace talks with Iran, raising the US counterintelligence threat assessment for Israel to "critical." This heightened activity, allegedly including attempts to wiretap key negotiators like Steve Witkoff and Pentagon officials Elbridge Colby and Michael Dimino, has caused alarm within the US security establishment, particularly as US defense personnel in Israel detected surveillance software on their devices. While the US Department of Defense and White House have declined to comment or disputed the claims, former and current US officials suggest this aggressive intelligence gathering against Trump administration officials is "unbridled" and has intensified since late 2024, potentially impacting future military and intelligence cooperation between the two close allies.

Despite a long-standing, albeit tolerated, history of mutual espionage between the United States and Israel, a recent report indicates that Israeli intelligence has significantly escalated its efforts to eavesdrop on senior American officials involved in peace talks with Iran, raising the US counterintelligence threat assessment for Israel to "critical." This heightened activity, allegedly including attempts to wiretap key negotiators like Steve Witkoff and Pentagon officials Elbridge Colby and Michael Dimino, has caused alarm within the US security establishment, particularly as US defense personnel in Israel detected surveillance software on their devices. While the US Department of Defense and White House have declined to comment or disputed the claims, former and current US officials suggest this aggressive intelligence gathering against Trump administration officials is "unbridled" and has intensified since late 2024, potentially impacting future military and intelligence cooperation between the two close allies.

Despite being close allies, Israeli intelligence agencies have attempted to eavesdrop on senior American officials involved in peace talks with Iran. The  Israeli espionage threat has concerned the US security establishment, which has raised the counter-threat assessment from Israel to the highest level, according to a report.

Israel and the United States have known for years that each other was spying on the other, and have actually tolerated it. However, the increased Israeli effort to understand  the United States’ positions in talks with Iran “crossed a line”, according to a report by The New York Times, quoting several US officials.

The concerns raised in the intelligence reports include alleged Israeli attempts to wiretap   American officials, including Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump's top envoy for negotiations; Elbridge Colby, a senior policy official at the Pentagon; and Michael Dimino, one of Colby's top deputies.

The report also quoted a Pentagon report, to which the Defence Counterintelligence and Security Agency contributed, that various efforts were being carried out by Israel to spy on US military personnel and government officials. The report said the Israeli counterintelligence threat level was raised from “high” to “critical” in recent weeks. The  document detailed several alleged Israeli efforts to spy on American military personnel and senior government officials.

The DIA raised the alarm after US defence personnel in Israel detected that software to tap their communications had been surreptitiously installed on their phones.

Though the US and Israel are fighting the war together and the US shares a huge amount of tactical and operational information with its Israeli counterparts, senior US officials said that Israel is looking for insights into Trump’s strategy and shifting stances on the peace talks. The new warning could complicate efforts to further integrate war planning between Israel and the US Central Command, especially if the Pentagon decides to impose new restrictions on information shared with Israeli officers.

The US Department of Defence declined to comment on the report. A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the description was false. A spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Washington also rejected claims that Israel posed a counterintelligence threat, saying that Israel does not spy on American officials or institutions.

However, several current and former American officials told The New York Times that the  warning was not entirely surprising and that Israel has been conducting aggressive  intelligence-gathering activities against its enemies and allies for years.

According to a senior US official, the aggressiveness of Israeli intelligence gathering  against senior Trump administration officials is “unbridled”, and the US military personnel  use a range of procedures and security measures to deal with the threat and protect their phones and electronic devices, especially when travelling to Israel.

Even the Civil-Military Coordination Centre in Kiryat Gat, where American and Israeli  military personnel and diplomats work side by side to enforce the ceasefire in Gaza and assist in humanitarian efforts, has a certain separation. The building has a floor designated only for Americans and a floor designated only for Israelis, so that each side can discuss its most sensitive issues.

The report added that it all began to increase in late 2024, as the Biden administration  pressured Israel to reduce its attacks on Gaza, and continued into 2025, as the Trump administration considered options for an attack on Iran. There were incidents in 2021 where Israeli military intelligence officers were caught placing listening devices at the headquarters of the Defence Intelligence Agency. In another case, Shin Bet agents reportedly attempted to place a listening device in a Secret Service vehicle.

A former senior American official who has dealt extensively with Israeli affairs said that some senior Trump administration officials have become particularly vulnerable to intelligence services from allies and adversaries alike because they tend to fly on private jets, conduct national security matters on their personal phones and forgo assistance from staff from US embassies abroad. Other officials acknowledged that the use of personal phones has made senior Americans easier targets for wiretapping.

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