Danish Foreign Minister Larsa Rasmussen said on Wednesday that he would call the Chargé d’Affairs of the American Ambassador to Denmark, after the Wall Street Journal reported that the administration of President Donald Trump ordered US intelligence agencies to intensify spying on Greenland.
Rasmussen told reporters during an unofficial meeting of the European Union’s foreign ministers in Warsaw on Wednesday that he was concerned about the report published in the Wall Street Journal, saying, “It worries me a lot because we are not spying on friends.”
“I don’t know if it is true because it is published in a newspaper. But it seems that he is not strongly rejected by those who speak publicly. This worries me.”
“We will call the Chargé d’Affairs of the American ambassador to conduct a discussion in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to find out whether we can confirm this information that is somewhat concern,” he said.
The Wall Street Journal said that high -ranking officials were working under the leadership of the Director of National Intelligence, Tolsi Gabbard, issued instructions to the heads of agencies in the “message of confirmation of information collection”. Such messages are usually helping to determine the priorities of intelligence, direct resources and pay attention to goals of great importance.
The letter included the Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency. The letter asked the leaders to study the Greenland Independence Movement and its positions on American efforts to extract resources from the island, according to the newspaper, quoting officials familiar with the matter, whose identity was not revealed.
This step raises Denmark’s concern, USA’s ally and NATO member (NATO), who has repeatedly confirmed that the island is not available for sale or annexation. The country plans to spend $ 1.5 billion to protect Greenland, which has self -rule under the Danish constitutional property.
Trump has repeatedly said that he wanted to include Greenland, a semi -independent area belonging to Denmark, an area of 863 thousand square miles, and expand the current American military presence on the island, and it was not unlikely that this is done by force if necessary.
“I don’t say that I will do that, but I do not rule out anything. We urgently need Greenland. Greenland is only a very few population, and you will make me help them, and we will cherish them, and all of that. But we need this for international security,” he said in comments broadcast last week.
“The president was quite clear about the US concern about Greenland’s security and the northern pole,” the Wall Street Journal quoted National Security Council spokesman James Hewitt as saying. He refused to comment on converting the intelligence concentration to the island.
Venerable intelligence agents say the Arctic Island, with a population of about 56,000, was historically not a target of American spy activity.
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