Rumor: US Spies on Greenland  05/09 06:47

   

   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.

   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 Store 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 
Store 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.