Denmark’s foreign minister will summon the U.S. ambassador to discuss a new report that found American intelligence agencies were directed to spy on Greenland.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said he was deeply disturbed by recent revelations that U.S. spy agencies had been directed to spy on Greenland’s independence movement and mineral resources.
“We are going to call in the U.S. acting ambassador for a discussion at the foreign ministry to see if we can confirm this information,” Mr. Rasmussen said while attending a European Union ministerial meeting in Poland. “It doesn’t seem to be strongly rejected by those who speak out. That worries me.”
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard had issued a “collection emphasis message” to the heads of U.S. intelligence agencies in late April.
The message, according to The Journal, directed U.S. intelligence agencies to use all of their available tools to identify individuals in Greenland who identify with U.S. objectives in the region.
Ms. Gabbard did not roundly deny that the message was legitimate, but did imply that the newspaper was breaking the law by publishing the information.
“The Wall Street Journal should be ashamed of aiding deep state actors who seek to undermine the President by politicizing and leaking classified information,” she said in a statement. “They are breaking the law and undermining our nation’s security and democracy.”
The report will likely add to the growing tensions between the U.S. and Greenland. Since taking office in January, President Trump has reiterated his intention to take over the semi-autonomous island territory of Denmark, even promising to use military force if diplomatic measures don’t work.
“We need Greenland very badly. Greenland is a very small amount of people, which we’ll take care of, and we’ll cherish them, and all of that,” the president said in an NBC News interview last weekend. “But we need that for international security.”
Greenlanders have for years rallied for political independence from Denmark, with most of the Island’s popular political parties voicing support for separating fully from Copenhagen.
However, most of Greenland’s citizens are staunchly opposed to U.S. rule, and criticism of Mr. Trump’s rhetoric became a major issue during the 2025 campaign.
