NATO officials have begun restricting intelligence exchanges with the United States for the first time in the alliance's 76-year history, according to multiple European security sources, as President Donald Trump's threats to seize Greenland fracture transatlantic trust.
The extraordinary move represents what security analysts describe as the most serious deterioration in relations between Washington and its European allies since the 1956 Suez Crisis. Intelligence officials from Britain, France, and Germany are "no longer communicating openly" with their American counterparts, according to a senior NATO insider who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The compartmentalization began after Trump publicly stated his intention to acquire Greenland, the autonomous Danish territory, for $700 billion and threatened punitive tariffs against eight NATO allies who opposed the plan. The administration announced a 10 percent tariff on European nations to take effect February 1, escalating to 25 percent by June 1 if resistance continues.
"There is genuine concern that sensitive intelligence could be weaponized to support annexation plans," the NATO source told reporters. "This creates unprecedented tension and mistrust between European and American colleagues."
The intelligence-sharing framework dates to the 1941 Sinkov Mission, when American cryptographers traveled to Britain during World War II to establish what would become the "Five Eyes" alliance with Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. A British intelligence official indicated that is now viewed within the alliance "as part of " rather than maintaining its traditional privileged position as 's closest intelligence partner.
