Intelligence Agencies Increase Focus on Greenland, U.S. Officials Say

U.S. intelligence agencies have focused more closely on Greenland in the past several weeks, spurred by President Trump’s interest in acquiring the island and Vice President JD Vance’s trip to a U.S. military base there, according to multiple American officials.

A growing number of intelligence reports about Greenland have been included in information circulated in the executive branch and Congress, the officials said.

The increased analytic focus by a number of intelligence agencies comes as Mr. Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to acquire the island, saying it is vital for national security. Greenland is strategically located in the Arctic Circle and has huge stores of rare earth minerals.

Danish officials have reacted negatively to news reports of stepped-up intelligence collection on Greenland, a self-governing territory of the country. The U.S. ambassador to Denmark has been summoned to a meeting, at least one member of Parliament has even proposed shuttering a consulate and its foreign minister condemned an effort by the United States to spy on Denmark, a NATO ally.

Some of the recent intelligence reports have focused on Russian or Chinese interest in the island, current and former officials said. They added that the White House remained concerned about security of the Arctic and encroachment by China and Russia on American interests.

Much of the recent intelligence work appeared to be based on open-source intelligence, not classified material, some of the officials said.