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The United States considers "Israel" the number one spy threat in the Middle East, as US officials uncovered new rifts between the US-"Israeli" historical and special ties.
Several of current and former US intelligence officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said "Israel" is the top threat for CIA's Near East Division which undertakes Washington's espionage activities across the Middle East, the Associated Press reported on Saturday.
"This means the CIA believes that US national secrets are safer from other Middle Eastern governments than from "Israel"," the report said. Both the CIA and "Israel's" prime minister's office have declined to comment on the issue.
The report comes on the heels of a new revelation by the White House that the houses of several CIA agents in Israel have been recently broken into.
In the most recent instance of such intrusions, the CIA station chief in Tel Aviv discovered that sensitive equipment he employed to communicate with the CIA headquarters in Virginia was tampered with.
"It is likely that Israeli intelligence is linked to the cases," the report said.
According to the report, such meddling underscores what is widely known but rarely discussed outside intelligence circles: Despite inarguable ties between the US and its closest ally in the Middle East and despite statements from US politicians trumpeting the friendship, US national security officials consider "Israel" to be, at times, a frustrating ally and a genuine counterintelligence threat.
""Israel" employs highly sophisticated, professional spy services that rival American agencies in technical capability and recruiting human sources.... "Israel" as a steadfast US ally enjoys access to the highest levels of the US government in military and intelligence circles," the report noted.
The existing mistrust between Washington and Tel Aviv becomes more manifest in "Israel's" exclusion from the "Five Eye" umbrella; the Alliance which incorporates the US, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zenalnd who agree to share intelligence and not to spy on one another.
The report pointed out that "Israel" is not America's closest ally at least "when it comes to whom Washington trusts with the most sensitive national security information."
Source: AFP, edited by moqawama.org
The United States considers "Israel" the number one spy threat in the Middle East, as US officials uncovered new rifts between the US-"Israeli" historical and special ties.
Several of current and former US intelligence officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said "Israel" is the top threat for CIA's Near East Division which undertakes Washington's espionage activities across the Middle East, the Associated Press reported on Saturday.
"This means the CIA believes that US national secrets are safer from other Middle Eastern governments than from "Israel"," the report said. Both the CIA and "Israel's" prime minister's office have declined to comment on the issue. The report comes on the heels of a new revelation by the White House that the houses of several CIA agents in Israel have been recently broken into.
In the most recent instance of such intrusions, the CIA station chief in Tel Aviv discovered that sensitive equipment he employed to communicate with the CIA headquarters in Virginia was tampered with.
"It is likely that Israeli intelligence is linked to the cases," the report said.
According to the report, such meddling underscores what is widely known but rarely discussed outside intelligence circles: Despite inarguable ties between the US and its closest ally in the Middle East and despite statements from US politicians trumpeting the friendship, US national security officials consider "Israel" to be, at times, a frustrating ally and a genuine counterintelligence threat.
""Israel" employs highly sophisticated, professional spy services that rival American agencies in technical capability and recruiting human sources.... "Israel" as a steadfast US ally enjoys access to the highest levels of the US government in military and intelligence circles," the report noted.
The existing mistrust between Washington and Tel Aviv becomes more manifest in "Israel's" exclusion from the "Five Eye" umbrella; the Alliance which incorporates the US, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zenalnd who agree to share intelligence and not to spy on one another.
The report pointed out that "Israel" is not America's closest ally at least "when it comes to whom Washington trusts with the most sensitive national security information."
Source: AFP, edited by moqawama.org
