A bombshell report by Politico claims that the U.S. government concluded that Israel was most likely behind surveillance devices planted near the White House and other sensitive locations around Washington, D.C.
Citing three former senior U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter, Politico reported devices capable of tracking cellphone activity had been uncovered.
Politico says Israel was behind the “Stingray” spy devices, and says that they were primarily intended to spy on President Donald Trump and his associates.
The U.S. government acknowledged in early 2018 that the Department of Homeland Security found illicit Stingrays near the White House and across other locations in Washington, but at that time no one knew who had planted the espionage devices. Stingrays are briefcase-sized electronics that spy on cellphones by mimicking cell towers, tricking smartphones into giving the Stingray installer a lot of information. Some Stingrays can even intercept calls by forcing the call onto 2G, which is unencrypted.
The Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service played a role in the investigation, which may also have involved the NSA and CIA, Politico reported.
“It was pretty clear that the Israelis were responsible,” a former US senior intelligence official said.
he Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement on the report, calling the accusation “a blatant lie.”
“There is a longstanding commitment, and a directive from the Israeli government not to engage in any intelligence operations in the US. This directive is strictly enforced without exception,” the statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office read.
In the article, one of the three former intelligence and national security officials, none of whom were identified, said the Trump administration – which describes itself as the most pro-Israel US government in history – did not rebuke its ally.
“The reaction … was very different than it would have been in the last [Obama] administration,” one former senior intelligence official was quoted as saying. “With the current administration, there are a different set of calculations in regard to addressing this.”
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3 Responses
While it is far fetched that any reader on this site would know facts, we are stuck with believability of those addressing it. A “former senior intelligence official” is also defined as part of the Obama apparatus, in all likelihood someone like Clapper or his subordinates. There is a credibility issue. I would accept Bibi talking in his sleep before a carefully prepared statement from these former officials who cannot be trusted or expected to adhere to minimum standards of honesty or morality. Anyone has the freedom to draw whatever conclusions they wish. But I know who to trust and who to dismiss.
Lets see……”Everyone spies on everybody, so no big deal”, “the CIA has been spying on Bibi and his predecessors since yetzias mitaraim”…..”we were just testing out new 5G technology for a new kosher phone to be marketed to Chareidim living near the WH”……
In reality, one of the “predictable” things about the Trumpkopf is he sort of transparent and provides a real time Twitter readout of what is going through his mind at any point in time, so no need to intercept his phone calls (unless he is cheating on FLOTUS, and if so, he has bigger problems than the Israelis)
Biggest tragedy of all this is that it shall stymie Jonathan Pollard’s chances of ever being allowed to depart the USA for Israel haShem Yerachem.