US military disables trackers amid Mideast targets

Washington: U.S. military officials have disabled advertising trackers on a variety of devices, according to letters from Senator Ron Wyden and statements to Reuters, following reports that commercial location data was used to target American forces in the Middle East. The Air Force disabled the advertising identifiers on computers and mobile phones two months ago, while the Special Operations Command and the Army stated that their respective Windows devices had had the trackers disabled recently and since earlier this year.

The Army also mentioned that advertising IDs had been blocked on Windows computers since before 2021, with Android and Apple mobile devices experiencing the restriction by default since at least February 2026. Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, has been pressing the Pentagon on this issue for months. The disclosures raise concerns about the potential misuse of location data collected by the advertising industry and sold by data brokers to track and target military personnel deployed in war zones.

The Pentagon has not provided further comment on the matter, while similar letters from the Army and Navy indicated that they disabled advertising IDs on military devices without specifying the timing. As military officials consider more stringent restrictions on phone usage, Wyden and Representative Pat Harrigan, a North Carolina Republican, have requested an investigation into whether the military has adequately addressed the risks associated with the location data trade.