In an unprecedented move that has sent shockwaves through NATO, Denmark’s Defence Intelligence Service (DDIS) has formally designated the United States as a potential security threat to Danish national security in its annual risk assessment published on 10 December 2025. For the first time in history, America is named in the same category as Russia and China – states that “could potentially use military force against their own partners and allies.”
The 64-page report, titled “Intelligence Risk Assessment 2025,” does not mince words:
“The United States is increasingly willing to use its economic and military power – including against allies – to enforce its own interests. The U.S. no longer rules out the use of military force, even toward partners.”
While Russia remains the primary conventional military threat and China the main long-term strategic challenger, the inclusion of Washington marks a dramatic rupture in transatlantic trust barely eleven months into Donald Trump’s second presidency.
Greenland: The Flashpoint
At the heart of Copenhagen’s concerns lies Greenland, the world’s largest island and an autonomous Danish territory that hosts the strategic U.S. Pituffik Space Base (formerly Thule Air Base). President Trump has repeatedly insisted that the United States must “have” Greenland – statements that escalated in January 2025 when he declared that Denmark should “hand it over peacefully” or face consequences, adding that “all options, including force,” remained on the table.
Danish officials privately describe the rhetoric as echoing Russia’s justifications before the 2014 annexation of Crimea. The DDIS report implicitly draws the same parallel, warning that great powers are once again “prepared to use or threaten military means to achieve territorial and resource goals – even against allies.”
A Broader Chill in the Alliance Relations
Beyond Greenland, the Danish assessment highlights three additional worries:
Economic coercion: The Trump administration’s threats of 25–60 % tariffs on European goods, explicitly framed as punishment for insufficient defence spending.
Uncertainty over NATO’s Article 5: Growing doubts in European capitals about whether Washington would still defend a NATO ally in the Baltic region if it conflicted with a U.S.–Russia “deal” over Ukraine.
Arctic militarisation: Increased U.S. naval and air activity around Greenland framed by Washington as competition rather than cooperation with Denmark.
DDIS chief Lieutenant General Thomas Ahrenkiel summarised the dilemma bluntly at the report’s launch:
“We are navigating between two poles. The United States remains Denmark’s most important ally, but we would be naive not to recognise that American policy is now driven first and foremost by ‘America First’ – and that this can come at our expense.”
Reactions Across the Atlantic and at Home
In Washington, the State Department called the report “regrettable and counterproductive,” insisting that “the U.S.–Danish alliance has never been stronger.” The Pentagon and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment.
In Copenhagen, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen struck a careful tone, stressing that Denmark “continues to regard the United States as its “closest friend,” but added: “Friends must be able to speak honestly with each other, even when it is uncomfortable.”
Opposition parties were less diplomatic. Søren Pape Poulsen, leader of the Conservative People’s Party, called the assessment “a wake-up call that Europe can no longer ignore,” while the right-wing Danish People’s Party demanded an emergency parliamentary debate on reducing dependence on American security guarantees.
The View from NATO Headquarters
Senior NATO diplomats, speaking anonymously, described the Danish report as “the canary in the coal mine.” Several allied intelligence services – including Norway, the Netherlands, and Canada – are reportedly preparing similar language for their own classified assessments in 2026.
One senior alliance official told Politico Europe:
“If Denmark – one of the most pro-American countries in NATO – is saying this publicly, imagine what others are writing behind closed doors.”
Toward European Strategic Autonomy?
The timing of the report coincides with renewed calls across the continent for greater European defence self-reliance. France and Germany have accelerated talks on a joint European rapid-reaction force, while Poland and the Baltic states are pushing for permanent NATO (read: non-American) troop deployments.
For Denmark, the consequences are already tangible. The government has quietly increased its 2026–2030 defence budget by an additional 18 billion kroner (€2.4 billion), with new investments in Arctic patrol vessels, long-range missiles, and cyber-defence – capabilities that reduce reliance on U.S. forces stationed in Greenland.
A Historic Turning Point
Never before has a NATO member publicly placed the United States in the same threat category as Moscow and Beijing. The Danish assessment is not a declaration of enmity, but it is an official admission that the era of unquestioning trust in American leadership is over.
As Europe watches an unpredictable second Trump term unfold, one of the continent’s smallest nations has delivered its loudest warning yet: even the closest allies can no longer take U.S. goodwill for granted.
The transatlantic relationship, for decades the bedrock of Western security, has entered uncharted and treacherous waters.
