Denmark to grill US envoy on Greenland spying report

What happened

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said Wednesday he would summon the acting U.S. ambassador over a "somewhat disturbing" report in The Wall Street Journal that the Trump administration has told U.S. intelligence agencies to ramp up spying on Greenland, the semiautonomous Danish territory openly coveted by President Donald Trump. "It worries me greatly because we do not spy on friends," Rasmussen told reporters, and because the report "doesn't seem to be strongly rejected by those who speak out."

Who said what

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard's office last week sent a "collection emphasis message" to the CIA, NSA and other spy agencies directing them to collect intelligence about Greenland's independence movement and identify potential allies there and in Denmark who support Trump's objective of taking over the island, the Journal reported.

Gabbard did not deny the report but accused the Journal of "breaking the law" and "aiding deep state actors who seek to undermine" Trump and U.S. "security and democracy" by "politicizing and leaking classified information." Trump has repeatedly said he would acquire Greenland, by force if necessary. "I don't say I'm going to do it, but I don't rule out anything," he told NBC News in an interview aired Sunday. "We need Greenland very badly."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"What the hell's going on" with Trump's threats to take over Greenland and other allies? former President Joe Biden said in a BBC interview broadcast Wednesday. "What president ever talks like that? That's not who we are. We're about freedom, democracy, opportunity, not about confiscation."

What next?

The White House had hoped its solicitation would "capitalize on the resentment that many Greenlanders feel about Denmark’s colonial legacy," the Journal said Wednesday. "But for now, at least, this pressure from Washington has had an opposite effect," drawing Greenland and Denmark "closer together." Danish lawmaker Rasmus Jarlov suggested closing the U.S. consulate in Greenland, reopened in 2020 after a 60-year hiatus. "I cannot imagine that the Americans would allow foreign agents in the U.S. if they had an openly declared agenda of undermining the United States," he said.