The U.S. military has disabled advertising trackers on a range of smartphones and computers following reports that commercially collected location data may have been used to track and target American personnel in the Middle East.
The move was disclosed in letters to U.S. Senator Ron Wyden and statements provided to Reuters. The Air Force said it disabled advertising identifiers on computers and mobile phones about two months ago, while U.S. Special Operations Command said it had recently disabled them on Windows devices. The Army has also taken similar measures earlier this year.
The technology involved is known as a Mobile Advertising ID (MAID). These identifiers are commonly used by advertising and technology companies to help track devices and deliver targeted advertising. Location information associated with mobile devices can potentially provide detailed information about where people live, work or travel.
The security concern intensified after reports that data obtained through commercial advertising and data-broker networks could be used to identify concentrations or movements of U.S. military personnel in the Middle East. Such information could potentially give adversaries valuable intelligence about troop locations and activities.
The issue has drawn congressional attention. Wyden and Representative Pat Harrigan have asked the Pentagon to investigate whether the military is doing enough to protect service members from commercially available location data and other digital tracking risks.
The measures come amid heightened tensions between the United States and Iran and an expanded U.S. military presence across the Middle East. American forces in the region have faced increasing security threats, making operational security and protection of personnel location information a growing concern.
Privacy and cybersecurity specialists have generally welcomed the disabling of advertising identifiers, but warn that it does not eliminate all potential tracking methods. Other sources of location intelligence, including telecommunications networks, applications, connected devices and publicly available information, can still expose sensitive movements.
The Pentagon’s response therefore represents one part of a broader effort to reduce the digital footprint of U.S. forces. The latest measures highlight how technologies originally designed for commercial advertising can create unintended national-security risks when sensitive location information becomes accessible to governments, intelligence services or other actors.
As the United States continues military operations and deployments in the Middle East, officials are expected to face increasing pressure to balance the convenience of connected devices with the need to prevent commercially generated data from becoming a tool for adversaries.
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