224 years after the establishment of Danish-American diplomatic relations, Denmark, one of the smallest NATO countries (0.6 per cent of the population of the 32 Alliance countries), was the first to challenge the United States and the unity of the military and political bloc, defining the United States as a threat to its national security.
In December 2025, Denmark became the first NATO country to identify the United States as a potential threat to national security, primarily due to statements by leading American politicians about their claims to Greenland, which did not rule out the use of military force. It appears that the list of NATO countries with a similar assessment may soon expand, primarily with Canada, which has received an offer to become the 51st state of its large southern neighbour.
The bold statement by Danish intelligence, on the one hand, is clearly intended for a shock PR effect, which it achieved mid-last week. On the other hand, it appears to be a tool for NATO self-diagnosis, provoking the United States to refute the report’s main thesis and confirm its commitment to the fading transatlantic relationship. The European members of NATO are thus politely giving time the United States to come to its senses.
There is no doubt that this statement, which is inconsistent with Denmark’s economic and military-political status, is intended to consolidate anti-Trump forces within the United States and intensify the activities of the American deep state with the aim of emasculating the new U.S. geopolitical strategy.
It can also be assumed that Denmark, a weak and insignificant NATO state, was asked to take the lead in declaring the U.S. a threat to national security so that the most powerful European NATO countries: Great Britain, France and Germany, would avoid this step, which could lead to the immediate dismantling of the transatlantic Alliance.
And in any case, whether the report’s authors intended it or not, it has punched a very large hole below the waterline of the NATO ship, a relic of the past that lost its meaning with the collapse of the USSR, and has never found a new meaning.
A New Report From the Danish Defence Intelligence Agency
In a new report from the Danish Defence Intelligence Agency (FE), the U.S. has been included as part of the Danish threat picture for the first time. The U.S. has been mentioned for the first time in the annual FE report as a negative part of the threat picture against Denmark.
Danish Expert’s Assessment Of The Report: Very Serious
It is very, very serious when the Danish Defence Intelligence Service mentions the USA for the first time as a negative part of the threat picture against Denmark in its annual report, which has just been published.
This is the opinion of Jacob Kaarsbo, who was previously chief analyst in the Danish Defence Intelligence Service (FE).
“It is the party we have called our biggest and most important ally ever since World War II and the establishment of NATO, and now it is suddenly the party that threatens us. So, it is one of the most sensitive and startling things that can possibly come out of FE.”
The very serious situation that Denmark and the EU are in, according to him, can only be solved by pulling together on the bus.
‘Significant Shift’, But Not Surprising
Rasmus Sinding Søndergaard, an expert in American foreign policy and senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), also calls the words about the USA a “significant shift”—but they are not surprising.
According to him, the vast majority of Danes can probably see that the USA with Donald Trump as president in various ways constitutes a kind of threat to both Denmark and Europe.
“The Americans themselves came out last week with their national security strategy and said quite clearly that they see the EU as a threat. So, in that sense it is not so strange that we, from the Danish side, are now also sounding the alarm that the U.S., in addition to being an ally in NATO, also poses a threat to our security in some respects.”
The reactions come in connection with FE’s annual report Udsyn, which was released on December 10 and describes the external conditions for the security of the Kingdom of Denmark.
The report states more specifically that the U.S. is now using “its economic and technological strength as a means of power, also towards allies and partners.”
And it is new that the U.S. is mentioned in the report as a negative part of the threat picture against Denmark.
A Balancing Act That Denmark Must Walk
In addition, the American increasingly stronger focus on the Pacific Ocean is creating uncertainty about the country’s role as “the primary guarantor of security in Europe,” is the message from FE.
FE chief Thomas Ahrenkiel has subsequently stated that the U.S. remains Denmark’s closest ally, and that the U.S. is still the guarantor of Europe’s security.
He also describes it as a dilemma that Denmark and other countries in Europe have been facing in recent years—that you have a U.S. that Europe is completely dependent on in terms of security, but also a U.S. that, among other things, looks after its own interests.
Therefore, Denmark must walk a balancing act, says DR’s defence correspondent, Mads Korsager.
“On the one hand, you are forced to stand firm in calling the U.S. Denmark’s most important ally, but at the same time, you describe them in an intelligence report as a threat, something that must be taken into account in this crude schoolyard that the world has become, where the only thing that counts is military muscle and economic power,” says Korsager.
Danish Threat Report Makes Headlines In The U.S.
The alliance between Denmark and the U.S. is cracking, according to several American media outlets.
It has not escaped the Americans’ attention that Denmark now describes the U.S. as one of the countries that pose a potential security risk to the Danish kingdom.
Several American media outlets have carried articles about precisely that conclusion in the new threat report from the Danish Defence Intelligence Service (FE), which was published on Wednesday.
The New York Times, Bloomberg and CNN are among the media outlets that have covered the report.
Evidence Of A Strained Alliance
While Russia poses an increasing threat to Denmark and Europe, the most surprising thing in yesterday’s FE report was that the U.S. now also poses a threat to allies such as Denmark.
“The U.S. is now using its economic and technological strength as a means of power, also towards allies and partners,” the report states, among other things.
And that very phrase is repeated in the coverage of several American media.
According to CNN, this is the first time ever that Denmark has described the U.S. as a potential security threat, and the report “is further evidence of the increasingly tense transatlantic alliance between Europe and the U.S.”
Trump’s U.S. Is A Security Threat
The American media outlet Newsweek has also published an article with the headline: “NATO ally says Trump’s U.S. poses a security threat”.
The media also mentions another widely quoted passage in the FE report, which emphasises the point, namely that there is “uncertainty about the role of the United States as a guarantor of Europe’s security”.
According to the media outlet, the report shows Denmark’s “concern, shared by NATO members in Europe, for Trump’s engagement in the continent”.
According to the media outlet Bloomberg, the report signals “a shift in the Nordic country’s view of its close ally amid geopolitical friction over Greenland”.
Fanning The Fire
The report comes at a time when tensions between Europe and the United States are already high.
The United States launched a new national security strategy on Friday. And as a follow-up to it, Donald Trump gave an interview to the American magazine Politico, in which he described Europe as a threatened entity with countries that “would not continue to exist”.
The strategy comes on top of important peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, brokered by the U.S., where European countries are desperately trying to make themselves relevant.
“If you’ve been following what’s happened over the past few months, you can see why the Danes feel they have to acknowledge that something is changing,” says senior researcher at the Atlantic Council, Elisabeth Braw, to The New York Times.
At the same time, the U.S. continues to court Greenland, which Donald Trump has previously threatened to take over by force.
“When doubts arise about the U.S.’s future commitment, it changes the foundation of the security we stand on,” FE head Thomas Ahrenkiel told TV 2.
U.S. Embassy’s Comment
The U.S. Embassy in Denmark commented on the new report from the Danish Defence Intelligence Agency on Wednesday evening, in which the U.S. is mentioned for the first time as a threat to Denmark.
In a written response to Politiken and Berlingske, a spokesperson for the embassy said, among other things, that the U.S. and Denmark share many concerns and goals when it comes to technology and the economy.
“We will continue to seek to deepen our partnerships with allies and like-minded nations to promote common economic and technological goals, including joint research, development and implementation of critical technologies and combating state-sponsored overcapacity, overregulation and harmful industrial policies abroad,” the statement from the U.S. embassy continued.
Source:
- UDSYN 2025 // fe-ddis.dk (in Danish)
- USA reagerer på historisk dansk trusselsvurdering // politiken.dk (in Danish)
- USA beskrives på ny måde i trusselsvurdering: ‘Noget af det mest følsomme og opsigtsvækkende’ // dr.dk (in Danish)
- Dansk trusselsrapport skaber overskrifter i USA // nyheder.tv2.dk (in Danish)
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