U.S. intelligence officials are reportedly telling their Israeli counterparts not to share information with the Donald Trump administration, according to two Israeli news agencies, Haaretz and Y Net News. This bit of advice arrives amid fears that Team Trump would (purposefully or not) share the info with Russia, who would then pass it along to Iran, causing a global crisis.
Trump now seems to accept that Russia did, in fact, hack the election, something intelligence officers, and even his own appointees have been hammering home to him. Even though he admitted it, he still appears to not be taking the matter seriously, which is making other officials nervous. And with reports that Trump’s team and Russian officials are still talking, their concerns may be validated.
Investigative journalist Ronen Bergman reported that U.S. intel has advised their Israel counterparts to tread lightly when delivering intel to the White House and the National Security Council in the first few months of the Trump administration. Officers believe they should test the waters at first and see if Trump can be reliable. Haaretz notes that Russia could use any critical intel against Israel:
“As Russian intelligence is associated with intelligence officials in Tehran, highly classified information, such as Israel’s clandestine methods of operation and intelligence sources, could potentially reach Iran. Such information has been shared with the United States in the past.”
Recent reports have shown that Russia hacked in an effort to assure their chosen candidate’s victory. It’s a sentiment shared by Trump’s CIA head choice Mike Pompeo, who called them an aggressive adversary, but Trump has not given a concrete answer to the direction he will take with the country.
(Via Haaretz & Y Net News)