US defence personnel stationed in Israel discovered that communications-intercepting software had been secretly installed on their mobile phones, prompting the Pentagon's intelligence arm to raise the espionage threat from a key ally to its highest-ever level.
The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) raised Israel's counterintelligence designation from 'high' to 'critical' in recent weeks and produced a seven-page classified brief with charts documenting the threat, current and former US officials said. The 'critical' designation is the most serious rating in the DIA's internal assessment system.
