The Pentagon is weighing a reduction of its Middle East military presence after months of Iranian strikes damaged US bases, but a proposal to relocate forces to Israel has stalled over longstanding concerns about Israeli espionage against the United States.
The Pentagon’s Repositioning Plan
The Washington Post reported Tuesday, citing eight officials, that the Pentagon is reassessing its entire military footprint in the Middle East following sustained Iranian attacks on American bases across the region.
Some Pentagon officials see the destruction as a rare opening to rethink how US forces are deployed rather than simply rebuilding damaged installations as they were before. The Joint Chiefs of Staff and US Central Command are both examining the issue.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has not yet ordered a formal review, with one official describing the current effort as “prudent planning” that could inform future decisions on reconstruction and repositioning.
Read More: The CIA Officer’s Guide to Travelling Like a Secret Agent
Why the Pentagon Is Leaving the Middle East
The immediate driver is damage. Months of Iranian ballistic missile and drone strikes have degraded US military infrastructure across the Gulf region, hitting bases in Jordan, Iraq, and Syria.
American casualties have been confirmed, with CENTCOM acknowledging at least two service members killed in Jordan alone, while the New York Times reported the Pentagon was withholding full casualty figures for operational reasons.
Beyond the physical destruction, the strikes exposed a vulnerability in the current basing model: concentrating large numbers of forces in fixed locations within Iranian missile range. The Pentagon now sees an opportunity to build a leaner, less exposed posture rather than reconstructing the same targets Iran already knows how to hit.
Read More: What Are Europe’s Top 5 Spy Agencies?
Why Israeli Espionage Is the Problem
One proposal under discussion involves relocating some US forces to Israel. It has generated significant pushback inside Washington, and the reason is not political. It is historical.
Israel has a well-documented record of spying on the United States despite being one of its closest allies. The most damaging case remains Jonathan Pollard, a US Navy intelligence analyst who passed enormous volumes of classified material to Israel in the 1980s. The damage was severe enough that it strained the relationship for decades. More recently in 2023, leaked Pentagon documents revealed that the NSA had assessed Israeli intelligence was actively collecting information on senior US officials. The Pentagon also raised its threat assessment of Israeli espionage to critical in 2026.
Read More: Pentagon raises Israeli espionage threat: What it means and Why It Matters?
Israel spies on the United States for the same reason most allies conduct intelligence operations against each other. National interest does not stop at the alliance boundary. Israel wants to know American negotiating positions, military planning details, and decision-making dynamics, especially on issues like Iran, where Israeli and American objectives do not always fully align. Basing US forces on Israeli soil would give Israeli intelligence services proximity to American personnel, communications, and operational planning that would be extraordinarily difficult to secure against.
If you liked this story, follow The Spy Stories on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, and subscribe on YouTube for more from the world of espionage.
