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Washington, 6 March 2025 – Key US partners, including Israel, Saudi Arabia and the Five Eyes alliance, are discussing the possibility of limiting intelligence cooperation with Washington due to the Donald Trump administration’s increased contacts with Russia. NBC News reports this with reference to four informed sources.
According to the TV channel, the allies fear a leak of sensitive information that could lead to the accidental disclosure of the identities of agents working abroad. This would be a serious violation of the security and confidentiality guarantees that participating countries provide to their intelligence officers.
“We are talking about a real risk for people working undercover in hostile states. If the data falls into Moscow’s hands, it will endanger the lives of the agents,” said one of NBC’s interlocutors.
Of particular concern are the actions of the countries of the Five Eyes Group – the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. This alliance has traditionally enjoyed the highest level of trust in sharing classified information, but is now considering options to restrict the US side’s access to certain data.
What are your concerns?
Following Trump’s series of contacts with Kremlin officials and his statements about the need to “reset” relations with Russia, allies fear that Moscow may gain indirect access to classified information, including intelligence networks, operations, and strategies in high-risk areas.
Israel and Saudi Arabia, which traditionally have strong cooperation with US intelligence, are considering the option of transmitting data in a reduced format or with a delay to minimise the risk of leaks.
What does this mean for the US?
If the allies do indeed begin to restrict intelligence sharing, it could significantly weaken the US ability to identify threats and respond quickly to crises around the world. This is especially true in the Middle East and Asia, where Israel and Saudi Arabia play a key role in gathering information on the activities of Iran, terrorist groups and other hostile forces.
At the moment, official Washington has not commented on the NBC report. However, the channel’s sources suggest that the issue of intelligence cooperation has already been the subject of closed consultations in the White House and the Pentagon.
