US Subversive Operations in Greenland Exposed

Yesterday, Denmark summoned Mark Stroh, the chargé d’affaires at the US embassy in Copenhagen, following reports that at least three American citizens, possibly tied to former President Donald Trump, have been involved in secretive influence efforts in Greenland. Speaking on Wednesday, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Denmark’s foreign minister, expressed concerns about “foreign actors” trying to sway the future of Greenland, stating firmly that such activities are “unacceptable.” 

In a development that has sparked significant attention, it is worth noting that it is not the first time Denmark has called upon a senior US diplomat to clarify US activities in Greenland. This last occurred in May, following a  Wall Street Journal report, which asserted that a classified message urged American intelligence agencies to pinpoint individuals in Greenland and Denmark who support Trump’s aspirations regarding the island’s status. According to a recent report from DR, the Danish public broadcaster, authorities have identified at least three US citizens linked to the Trump administration who are reportedly gathering intelligence in Greenland and engaging in influence operations. While DR is privy to their identities, the broadcaster chose not to disclose the names, citing the need to protect its sources.

There are some intriguing questions still on the table about the motivations driving the US’s influence operation in Greenland aimed at fracturing relations with Denmark —a topic that even the Scandinavian Kingdom thought was a chapter closed. It really matters to dig deep and find out whether the three Americans mentioned in the DR report are acting independently or if they’re following orders from higher up.

In one of our previous reports, titled “Could US Arctic Anxiety Unsettle The Balance of Power in the Region?“, we explored the fierce competition surrounding the Lomonosov Ridge in the Arctic. This region holds a staggering 30% of the world’s untapped gas reserves and an estimated 160 billion barrels of oil, a treasure trove that Greenland (Denmark) has laid claim to. The stakes are high as nations vie for influence over these vital resources. If we are to look at Greenland in the context of oil and gas exploration in the Arctic, we must first remember that Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign revolves around unlocking the vast energy potential of Alaska’s North Slope. As part of his bold “Drill, baby, drill” policy, one of the very first executive orders, signed on January 20—marking the first day of Trump’s second presidency—focused on paving the way for oil and gas exploration in the Arctic.

One of the three individuals, whose name hasn’t been revealed by the broadcaster yet, allegedly put together a list of Greenlanders who are most receptive to Trump’s sales pitch. The goal? To recruit them and spark a “secession movement” on the island. The individual in question also seems to have pinpointed those who are staunch opponents. Interestingly, this American—who has been spotted alongside the US president multiple times—recently landed a position that could significantly impact US security policy. Reportedly, the remaining two American nationals forged connections with influential people in politics and business, as well as local residents in the autonomous territory. Though the journalists couldn’t definitively verify if they were following directives from Washington, sources speculated that they intended to embed themselves within Greenlandic society, subtly undermining relations with Denmark and coaxing the Greenlanders to lean toward the United States. The plot thickens!

As highlighted in the DR report on Wednesday, US officials were actively seeking information about the issues straining the relationship between Greenland and Denmark. Their aim? To cast Denmark in a negative light. Among the contentious issues is the heartbreaking history of Greenlandic Inuit children being forcibly removed from their families, and the coerced sterilisation of Greenlandic women. Several reports indicate that to lower the birth rate on the island, Danish physicians implanted intrauterine devices in 4,500 women and girls during the 1960s,  frequently without their consent. In March 2024, 143 women filed complaints against the Danish government, which has recently offered a thorough apology. This apology addresses various shortcomings for which Denmark is accountable, highlighting how Greenlanders were consistently treated differently and unfairly compared to other citizens of the Kingdom.

Since making his return to the White House in January, Trump has consistently emphasised the importance of the strategically positioned, resource-abundant island for America’s security. He has also left the door open on the possibility of using force to ensure its protection. Although a recent poll conducted in January revealed a significant majority of the 57,000 residents of Greenland are eager for independence from Denmark, the islanders have made it clear that they do not wish to join the United States. Both Denmark and Greenland have firmly stated that their Arctic island is not up for grabs and that its future will be determined by its own people.

It appears that, much like the Palestinian people in Gaza, the Trump administration doesn’t show much consideration for those striving for self-determination. Today we are featuring the DR report on American attempts at infiltration in Greenland…

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Niels Fastrup and Lisbeth Quass report for DR…

Central sources: Men with connections to Trump are trying to infiltrate Greenland

Greenland is the target of influence campaigns aimed at driving cracks in relations with Denmark, according to the Danish Police Intelligence Service.

The streets are covered in snow when an American man with close ties to the US President and the White House lands in Nuuk. The man is on a mission: During his visit, he will compile a list of names of Greenlandic citizens who support President Donald Trump’s plans to take over Greenland. The list will consist of Greenlanders whom the Americans will try to recruit for a secession movement across Greenland and Denmark.

The man is one of at least three Americans with connections to Donald Trump who are conducting covert influence operations in Greenland.

This is the assessment of central government and authority sources as well as sources in Greenland and the USA, with whom DR has held several meetings since the inauguration of Donald Trump as president in January this year.

It is the sources themselves who use words like “infiltration” and “influence operations”, and who assess that the goal of the operations is to penetrate Greenlandic society in order to weaken relations with Denmark from within and make the Greenlanders submit to the United States.

The story is based on information from eight sources who, due to the sensitive nature of the matter, have spoken on condition of anonymity.

DR has not been able to clarify whether the American men are working on their own initiative or under orders. But the men’s activities are being closely monitored by both authorities and the Danish government.

“We are all worried about this. Of course, we are, a source with detailed knowledge of the matter tells DR”. DR knows the names of the American men, but has chosen not to publish them to protect DR’s sources.

Often seen with Donald Trump

During his visit to snow-covered Nuuk earlier this year, the American man not only compiled a list of US-friendly Greenlanders in Greenland and Denmark.

He also collected names of people who are opponents of Donald Trump, a source says.

The American man, who has been seen in public with the US president many times, has recently been appointed to a role that could give him influence over US security policy.

According to a source, in Nuuk he also got Greenlanders to point out cases that could be used to put Denmark in a bad light in American media.

Including stories about forced removals of Greenlandic children in Denmark and the so-called IUD case , where Danish doctors inserted IUDs into Greenlandic girls and women without consent.

“What we are seeing is the use of soft power, influence and attempts to create internal discord,” says a source.

Worked under Trump

Two other American men – whose activities also concern the authorities – have regularly traveled back and forth between Greenland and the United States in recent years.

Both men previously worked under Donald Trump. In Greenland, they have tried to cultivate contacts with politicians, business people and citizens, and the sources’ concern is that these contacts could secretly be used to support Donald Trump’s desire to take over Greenland. For source reasons, DR cannot provide specific details about what it is about the two men’s actions that concerns the authorities.

‘One way or another, we’ll get it,’ said Donald Trump about Greenland in March this year.

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PET: Greenland is a target for influence campaigns

DR has asked the Danish Police Intelligence Service (PET) for a comment on the activities of the American men.

The intelligence service’s response is that “it is PET’s assessment that Greenland, especially in the current situation, is a target for influence campaigns of various kinds”. According to PET, the purpose of such campaigns is to create discord in the relationship between Greenland and Denmark:

PET assesses that this could be done by exploiting existing or invented disagreements, for example, in connection with known individual cases or by promoting or reinforcing certain views in Greenland regarding the Kingdom and the USA or other countries with a special interest in Greenland.

The response also states that “PET is in ongoing and close dialogue with the Greenlandic authorities on developments in the threat landscape, on specific influence activities and on the implementation of suitable countermeasures”.

The government has recently announced that PET will have a greater presence in Greenland in the future.

Fearing the calm before the storm

The American man who visited Nuuk earlier this year and made lists of Greenlanders is, according to a source, still working to have Greenland incorporated into the United States.

Another source says that some of the American activities in Greenland have been running at a lower rate over the summer, but that this is not necessarily a good thing:

“Perhaps what we are experiencing right now is the calm before the storm. and perhaps the fewer activities in Greenland are an expression of the fact that professional institutions have started operating, which they will be better able to hide.”

Here, the source refers to a revelation in The Wall Street Journal from May, where the newspaper wrote that US intelligence services had been ordered to increase their espionage in Greenland. According to the newspaper’s confidential sources, the intelligence services had received orders from the US’s top intelligence chief to collect information about the Greenlandic independence movement and to identify people in Greenland and Denmark who support Trump’s Greenland ambitions.

The revelation in the Wall Street Journal has reinforced the authorities’ concern about an American threat to Greenlandic democracy, DR learns.

A three-step strategy

According to DR’s information, the (US) hidden activities in Greenland have been brought up in the government. The source assessment is that the Trump administration’s strategy to take over Greenland has been divided into three phases since Donald Trump announced in December 2024 that American “ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.”

The source revealed that the first phase involved directing a charm offensive against the Greenlanders, including by sending President Donald Trump’s son on a much-publicised visit to Nuuk in January. Then came a phase of pressure on Denmark, where Vice President JD Vance, among other things, travelled to the American Pituffik base in Greenland in March this year and, in a speech, criticised Denmark for failing the Greenlanders.

In the spring, the strategy will have entered a third phase, which is about infiltrating Greenlandic society. There was public speculation about whether the United States could use military force to take over Greenland – spurred by the fact that Donald Trump himself has repeatedly refused to rule out that possibility.

DR’s sources, however, do not believe that the United States currently intends to use military force to enforce an annexation. ‘You haven’t done your job well enough!’, said the US vice president Vance during his visit to Greenland.

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A major political cat’s eye

According to DR’s information, the American attempts at influence have put Denmark in a major political dilemma, where all initiatives are weighed on a gold scale.

On the one hand, the Danish side wants to ensure that Greenlanders are informed that American actors are secretly trying to influence the future of Greenlandic society.

On the other hand, Denmark is very reluctant to interfere in Greenland’s internal affairs. In addition, the sources assess that the activities of the American men are in a legal grey area, where Greenland’s special status complicates the matter.

“Greenlanders are welcome to work for independence, and the United States is welcome to invest and work for stronger ties to Greenland”, says a source. However, if the information in The Wall Street Journal is correct – and if American activities in Greenland were to originate from an intelligence service – then the United States would have crossed a clear line,” the source says.

 “No one is allowed to spy – not even the Americans”, said Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, who has repeatedly denied that Greenland is for sale, here at a press conference in April 2025.

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‘The United States respects the rights of the Greenlandic people’

DR has asked the White House whether the US government has instructed American citizens to carry out influence operations in Greenland. The White House has not responded.

The US Embassy in Copenhagen has sent a response from a representative of the US government, stating:

“Individual U.S. citizens may have interests in Greenland. The U.S. government does not control or direct the actions of private citizens” The representative added that “the United States values the relationships with the governments of Greenland and Denmark,” and “The President, Vice President, and Secretary of State have all been clear: The United States respects the right of the Greenlandic people to determine their own future.”

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