A former CIA officer describes a striking flip in how US intelligence treats Israel — from a top spying threat to an embedded partner — which he frames as bad for US counterintelligence.

• Decades ago Israel was ranked a critical spy threat alongside Russia, China, Cuba and North Korea, and its officials were barred from CIA headquarters.
• A provision in the 2027 defense bill would place Israeli personnel with the Pentagon and open much closer intelligence sharing with the CIA.
• At the same time, the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency warned all staff that Israel is aggressively trying to recruit sources inside the agency.
• The two can't both be true — either Israel is a spying risk or a trusted partner — and the drift toward partner status is called a political change, not a security one.
• The cause given is decades of pressure through the White House and Congress via AIPAC, to the point where criticizing Netanyahu personally gets labeled anti-Semitic.

Outlook: Expect fights over the defense bill's Israel provisions and more warnings about foreign recruiting inside US agencies.