Denmark’s Defense Intelligence Service — Forsvarets Efterretningsvæsen (FE) — published its annual threat assessment report stating that the United States is using its economic power to ‘assert its will’ and threaten military force against both allies and adversaries, according to PBS. This assessment appears in the FE’s official annual publication, which is the Danish equivalent of a US Director of National Intelligence threat assessment: a formal, official intelligence product.

WHY THIS IS EXTRAORDINARY  

Intelligence agencies of NATO allies publish annual threat assessments that assess threats to national security. These assessments typically cover Russia, China, Iran, terrorism, and other documented adversaries. They do not typically include explicit characterizations of the primary NATO ally — the United States — as using economic coercion against its own alliance partners.

The specific language the FE used: the US is using economic power to ‘assert its will’ and threaten force against ‘both allies and adversaries.’ Both allies and adversaries. Denmark’s own intelligence service has formally categorized the United States as using coercive economic pressure against its own alliance partners — of which Denmark is one — alongside its adversaries.

WHAT PROMPTED IT  

The specific events that prompted the FE’s characterization, based on the arc’s documentation:

▸  Greenland tariff threats: Trump threatened tariffs on Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the UK over their Arctic troop deployments in Greenland; these are NATO allies facing trade threats over security decisions

▸  Jeff Landry appointment: Trump’s appointment of Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry as special envoy to Greenland reignited tensions and prompted Denmark’s foreign minister to summon the US ambassador — a formal diplomatic protest

▸  Repeated acquisition pressure: Trump’s sustained pressure on Denmark to transfer Greenland to the US, combined with economic threats when Denmark refused, is the specific documented pattern the FE is characterizing

THE CONTEXT OF ANNUAL INTELLIGENCE ASSESSMENTS  

Annual intelligence assessments are calibrated documents. They are reviewed at senior levels before publication. The inclusion of a characterization of the United States as using economic coercion against allies is not an accident or an analyst’s unreviewed opinion. It is a deliberate, authorized, official Danish government assessment of the threat environment — one that places the US in the same analytical category as countries that use economic coercion to assert their will.

Denmark’s spy agency published its official annual threat assessment. It said the US uses economic power to threaten its allies and adversaries. Both. Denmark is a NATO ally of the US. This is not a protestor holding a sign. This is Denmark’s Defense Intelligence Service filing a formal document.

THE VON DER LEYEN SOLIDARITY DIMENSION  

Von der Leyen’s statement that the EU ‘stands in full solidarity with Denmark and the people of Greenland’ takes on additional significance in the context of the FE report. If Denmark’s own intelligence service is formally characterizing the US as an economic coercion threat to its allies, and the EU is declaring full solidarity with Denmark, then the EU is implicitly endorsing the FE’s characterization. The chain of solidarity runs: FE identifies US coercion; von der Leyen stands with Denmark; EU supports Greenland’s sovereignty; Arctic Shield excludes US troops.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT  

▸  US response to FE report — whether the US State Department formally responds to Denmark’s intelligence assessment

▸  NATO implications — whether the FE report is discussed in NATO Council meetings

▸  Alliance stress indicators — whether other NATO allies publish similar assessments of US economic coercion

▸  Working group — whether the US-Danish-Greenlandic working group continues constructively given the FE’s public assessment

CONFIDENCE: HIGH

Denmark Defense Intelligence Service annual report characterizing US using economic power to assert will against allies and adversaries, PBS reporting, Landry appointment reigniting tensions, von der Leyen full solidarity with Denmark are from confirmed reporting.

⚖️  BIAS CHECK — WHO IS SAYING WHAT
Denmark FE (Defense Intelligence Service)	An official government intelligence product; represents Denmark’s formal assessment of the threat environment; its inclusion of the US as an economic coercion threat is an authorized, official Danish government position
US government	Has not formally responded to the FE characterization in available reporting as of this publication
EU / von der Leyen	Expressing full solidarity with Denmark in the context in which the FE report was published; the solidarity encompasses the FE’s implicit characterization
ONYX	Covering the FE assessment at its full significance as a documented, official Danish intelligence product; this is not a political statement by a Danish politician but a formal intelligence assessment

SOURCES

▸  PBS — Denmark Defense Intelligence Service US economic coercion allies foes, September 8, 2026