Denmark summons US diplomat over report on increased US intel gathering in Greenland
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Denmark on Thursday summoned the top U.S. diplomat in the country for an explanation following a Wall Street Journal report about the United States stepping up intelligence gathering on Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory coveted by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Jennifer Hall Godfrey, the acting head of the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen, met with high-ranking Danish diplomat Jeppe Tranholm-Mikkelsen at the Danish Foreign Ministry over the Journal article “U.S. Orders Intelligence Agencies to Step Up Spying on Greenland” published on Tuesday, the ministry said in an email.
It provided no further details. The embassy declined to comment.
The Journal, citing two people familiar with the U.S. effort that it did not identify, reported that 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.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told broadcaster DR outside a meeting Wednesday with colleagues in Poland that Denmark would summon the U.S. diplomat to seek a “rebuttal” or other explanation following the report.
Rasmussen, who has previously scolded the Trump administration over its criticism of NATO ally Denmark and Greenland, said the information in the report was “very worrying” and “we don’t spy between friends.”
“We are looking at this with quite a lot of seriousness,” he added.
Greenland’s prime minister said last month that U.S. statements about the mineral-rich Arctic island have been disrespectful and it “will never, ever be a piece of property that can be bought by just anyone.”
In a visit to the island last month, Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said, addressing the United States during a visit to Greenland that “you cannot annex another country,” even with the argument made by U.S. officials that international security is at stake.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said Washington will respect Greenland’s self-determination and alleged that Greenlanders “don’t want to be a part of Denmark.”
