Denmark has said it will summon the acting U.S. ambassador after it was reported that U.S. intelligence agencies have been ordered to increase spying on Greenland.
Danish foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told reporters on Wednesday that he was going to call in the ambassador “for a discussion at the foreign ministry to see if we can confirm” the reporting, Reuters reported.
Rasmussen’s comments come after The Wall Street Journal reported that high-ranking officials under Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard issued a “collection emphasis message” to heads of intelligence agencies.
They were told to learn more about Greenland’s independence and attitudes toward the U.S. extracting resources from the island, the report said. The intelligence groups were told to identify people in Greenland and Denmark who support the United States’s goals for Greenland.
“I have read the article in the Wall Street Journal and it worries me greatly because we do not spy on friends,” Rasmussen told reporters, according to Reuters.
He said the report was “somewhat disturbing.”
The reporting and intelligence actions follow the Trump administration’s desire to acquire Greenland, a territory owned by Denmark.
President Trump has repeatedly claimed he would like to acquire the island, but officials from both Greenland and Denmark say that won’t happen and it’s not for sale.
