There’s an interesting report out today that Israel conducted espionage against Trump after surveillance devices were found near the White House that are said to belong to Israel:
POLITICO – The U.S. government concluded within the last two years that Israel was most likely behind the placement of cell-phone surveillance devices that were found near the White House and other sensitive locations around Washington, D.C., according to three former senior U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter.
The miniature surveillance devices, colloquially known as “StingRays,” mimic regular cell towers to fool cell phones into giving them their locations and identity information. Formally called international mobile subscriber identity-catchers or IMSI-catchers, they also can capture the contents of calls and data use.
The devices were likely intended to spy on President Donald Trump, one of the former officials said, as well as his top aides and closest associates — though it’s not clear whether the Israeli efforts were successful.
Based on a detailed forensic analysis, the FBI and other agencies working on the case felt confident that Israeli agents had placed the devices, according to the former officials, several of whom served in top intelligence and national security posts.
That analysis, one of the former officials said, is typically led by the FBI’s counterintelligence division and involves examining the devices so that they “tell you a little about their history, where the parts and pieces come from, how old are they, who had access to them, and that will help get you to what the origins are.” For these types of investigations, the bureau often leans on the National Security Agency and sometimes the Central Intelligence Agency (DHS and the Secret Service played a supporting role in this specific investigation).
“It was pretty clear that the Israelis were responsible,” said a former senior intelligence official.
Notice these sources are all “former” senior intelligence officials. It doesn’t mean the reporting isn’t true, but the fact that they are anonymous does raise my suspicion somewhat of an ulterior motive.
Israel was asked about it and is denying that the devices belonged to them…
An Israeli Embassy spokesperson, Elad Strohmayer, denied that Israel placed the devices and said: “These allegations are absolute nonsense. Israel doesn’t conduct espionage operations in the United States, period.”
A senior Trump administration official said the administration doesn’t “comment on matters related to security or intelligence.” The FBI declined to comment, while DHS and the Secret Service didn’t respond to requests for comment.
But former officials with deep experience dealing with intelligence matters scoff at the Israeli claim — a pro forma denial Israeli officials are also known to make in private to skeptical U.S. counterparts.”
It makes little sense that Israel would conduct espionage on allies. That would hardly be considered a ‘friendly’ activity.
But then again, perhaps they weren’t certain about Trump when he took office. Or maybe after having to deal with Obama for eight years, they just needed to be sure about him? It’s all speculation and we’ll likely never know that full truth.
The report does notes that upon learning the devices belonged to Israel, Trump didn’t scold Israel and took no action against them. Perhaps he didn’t believe it either…