Trump Could Share Sensitive Intel with Russia, Former US Officials Warn

Some US allies are considering limiting the intelligence they share with Washington due to concerns over the Trump administration’s warming ties with Moscow.

According to NBC, four sources with direct knowledge of the discussions said the move comes amid fears that sensitive information could be compromised as Trump and his deputies signal a shift in US-Russia relations.

Allies – including Israel, Saudi Arabia, and members of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance – are reviewing their protocols to protect foreign assets whose identities could inadvertently be exposed, according to the report.

“Those discussions are already happening,” one source said, though no final decision has been made.

The concerns arise as former US intelligence officials warn that Trump’s administration may even share sensitive information with Russia.

Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO), a member of the House Intelligence and Armed Services committees, voiced alarm over the administration’s “rapid pivot towards the Kremlin” and reports that US Cyber Command has scaled back operations against Russia.

“Russia is an adversary and, as always, looking for opportunities to sow discord and make trouble for Americans and for the government,” Crow told NBC. “So, any stand-down or pullback of our operations could be catastrophic.”

NBC reports that Trump’s softer stance on cybersecurity has fueled speculation that Washington and Moscow may have reached an informal agreement to reduce cyber operations – what some experts call a “cyber détente.”

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Emily Harding, a former intelligence official, now director of the Intelligence, National Security, and Technology Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said such a deal is plausible but questioned whether the Kremlin would honor it.

“That sounds good in theory,” said Harding. “I think the next question is whether you think Russia would actually stick to it.”

A key obstacle to any cyber truce is Russia’s well-documented role as a haven for cybercriminals, as per the report. Moscow does not extradite its citizens and has largely refused to cooperate with US law enforcement cracking down on hackers targeting American businesses, hospitals, and government networks.

Past attempts at US-Russia intelligence cooperation have also largely failed. Following the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush sought collaboration with Moscow on counterterrorism, but, as former officials told NBC, “the effort went nowhere fast.”

Former CIA officer John Sipher and colleagues echoed this sentiment in a 2020 op-ed for The Washington Post, describing Putin’s approach to cooperation as a one-sided advantage for Russia.

“Inside the CIA, we often joked that, to Putin, win-win means I beat you twice,” they wrote. “Good intentions from the US side have proved time and again to have been futile in improving relations.”

CIA Director John Ratcliffe on March 5 confirmed that the US has paused both weapons shipments and intelligence sharing with Ukraine following the Feb. 28 meeting broadcast from the Oval Office, where Trump and Vice President Vance publicly berated the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for supposedly being ungrateful for US aid.

The Trump administration then had Zelensky removed from the White House before discussing an exploitative mineral deal with Kyiv in exchange for an undetermined quantity of weapons and no security guarantees from Washington.

However, he expressed hope that the pause would be lifted soon, saying he looked forward to resuming cooperation with Ukraine after a letter may have been sent from Zelensky to Trump, or at least posted in a public statement on social media.

According to the Daily Mail, Washington’s new orders prohibit UK agencies, including GCHQ and the Ministry of Defence, from transferring intelligence that was previously classified as “Releasable to Ukraine” (Rel UKR).

With the US revoking this releasability status for classified information, analysts warn that the decision could weaken Ukraine’s defense capabilities.

A senior Ukrainian official told the Financial Times that Ukraine has “two to three months” before the situation becomes significantly more challenging. While they did not foresee a total collapse, they warned that Ukraine could be forced to withdraw from certain areas more rapidly.