Danish leader says 'you cannot spy against an ally' after reports of US
gathering intel on Greenland
[May 09, 2025]
By EMMA BURROWS
OSLO, Norway (AP) — Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told The
Associated Press “you cannot spy against an ally” after reports that the
United States has stepped up intelligence gathering on Greenland, a
semi-autonomous Danish territory coveted by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Frederiksen's comments Friday are the latest in the spat between
Denmark, Greenland and the United States because Trump seeks to annex
the strategic Arctic island. Denmark and Greenland insist that the
mineral-rich island is not for sale, while Trump has not ruled out
taking it by military force even though Denmark is a NATO ally.
The Danish prime minister spoke to the AP the day after Denmark summoned
the top American diplomat in the country for an explanation following a
Wall Street Journal report which said several high-ranking officials
under the U.S. director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, had
directed intelligence agency heads to learn more about Greenland’s
independence movement and sentiment about U.S. resource extraction
there.
Jennifer Hall Godfrey, acting head of the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen,
met with high-ranking Danish diplomat Jeppe Tranholm-Mikkelsen at the
Danish Foreign Ministry, the ministry said in an email. It provided no
further details. The embassy declined to comment.
Frederiksen said Friday the report was “rumors” in an international
newspaper. The Journal, cited two people familiar with the U.S. effort
which it did not identify.
“Cooperation about defense and deterrence and security in the northern
part of Europe is getting more and more important,” Frederiksen said.
“Of course, you cannot spy against an ally.”
Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, in comments to
Greenland newspaper Sermitsiaq, said the reports of espionage are
unacceptable and disrespectful.
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Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen listens during the Joint
Expeditionary Force (JEF) Leaders' Summit in Oslo, Friday, May 9,
2025.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant, Pool)
In response to questions about the Journal’s report, Gabbard’s
office released a statement noting that she had made three
“criminal” referrals to the Justice Department over intelligence
community leaks.
“The Wall Street Journal should be ashamed of aiding deep state
actors who seek to undermine the President by politicizing and
leaking classified information,” Gabbard wrote. “They are breaking
the law and undermining our nation’s security and democracy. Those
who leak classified information will be found and held accountable
to the fullest extent of the law.”
Greenland’s prime minister said last month that U.S. statements
about the island have been disrespectful and it “will never, ever be
a piece of property that can be bought by just anyone.”
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre on Friday said those who
believe there is “another kind of legal regime in the Arctic” should
be told that “this is not the case.”
Speaking ahead of a Joint Expeditionary Force leaders’ meeting in
Oslo, Gahr Støre said there seemed to be suggestions that “in the
Arctic, there is some kind of terra nullius, law doesn’t apply.”
“It applies, sovereignty applies. And Greenland is a part of the
Kingdom of Denmark,” he said ahead of the meeting with the leaders
of the U.K., Nordic and Baltic nations.
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