The US government concluded within the last two years that Israel is the country "most likely" behind the planting of special surveillance devices near the White House and in other sensitive locations in Washington DC, a report published by Politico revealed on Thursday.
According to three former US officials cited in the report, the miniature "StingRay" devices were meant to spy on US President Donald Trump and his closest aides.
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Notably, in contrast to other espionage discoveries, there were no consequences for this case, as the Trump administration did not reprove the Israeli government, according to one of the former officials.
The StingRays, technically referred to as IMSI-catchers, work by acting as regular cell towers that are then able to obtain the locations and identities of mobile devices in addition to data and call content.
.@politico journalist @dlippman says senior White House officials told him the FBI determined it most likely #Israel who planted Stingray spy devices near the White House: pic.twitter.com/ZfAzTXJiuu
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) September 12, 2019
According to Politico, the incumbent president has been notoriously careless in security protocols, for example by failing to use a secured cellphone. Politico also cited his dismissive response to a report in The New York Times in October 2018 of Chinese spies tapping his calls, which he said was "so incorrect I do not have time here to correct it."
At that point, officials at the Homeland Security Department had already uncovered evidence of the StingRays around the nation's capital while conducting tests, though they were unable to identify the specific source.
The findings were apparently relayed to relevant federal agencies, Politico reported, based on a letter by a top DHS official, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Christopher Krebs, to Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) in May 2018.
This article was originally published by i24NEWS.
