According to recent reports from Denmark’s public broadcaster DR – with sources from government, security services, and the local area kept anonymous, at least three Americans connected to President Donald Trump are pursuing covert influence operations in Greenland. They are allegedly engaging in certain operations that are collecting lists of U.S.-friendly Greenlanders, flagging Trump opponents, and facilitating the locals to surface issues that cast Denmark in a disparaging light in the U.S. media– in a way to destabilize U.S.-Denmark-Greenland relationships, and promote Danish secession to the U.S.
The government of Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen summoned the charge d’affaire for the U.S. in Denmark, and labelled such interference “an unacceptable activity.” The intelligence services of Denmark, PET, has also commented that Greenland is vulnerable to influence enrichment campaigns, likely to have been exploitative of existing tensions. There has been no comment from the U.S. Embassy in Denmark, and of course, all these controversies are amplified by Trump’s many assertions of wanting to annex Greenland for purposes of national security, as well as for the resources on the island. Greenland’s leaders, and Denmark for that matter, have said Greenland is not for sale, and depending on polling, the majority of Greenlanders do not support a U.S. control of the island.
