The government of Denmark is outraged at new reports of U.S. intelligence spying on Greenland, reported Bloomberg News — and is summoning the U.S. ambassador to provide answers.
The report, first detailed by the Wall Street Journal this week, highlighted how espionage operations are focusing on the island to learn more about the “independence movement and attitudes on American resource extraction,” evidently in furtherance of President Donald Trump's long-held ambitions to claim Greenland from Denmark, which has emphatically rejected any attempt to transfer over the island.
Greenlanders have expressed virtually no interest in polls for joining the United States, with 85 percent opposing the idea. However, there is a long-simmering independence movement that may seek to take advantage of the Trump administration's interest to advance its own goals.
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"Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen ... told reporters at an informal meeting of European Union foreign affairs ministers in Warsaw that the article 'worries me a lot because we don’t spy among friends,'" said the report. “It is worrying if they have the approach that they must now obtain intelligence in Denmark and Greenland, obviously with the aim of finding a way to drive a wedge,” he continued. “That is not the cooperation we should have, so it is something I view with great seriousness.”
It's a significant escalation from Trump's public statements about wanting to acquire Greenland, and the trips Trump allies have been making to the island for public relations.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has responded to the report by attacking the press, claiming that the disclosure of intelligence operations is illegal and endangers national security.