US Military Disables Ad Tracking on Troops' Devices
Original: US military disabled ad tracking on troops’ devices following reports of targeted attacks
Why This Matters
Highlights how commercial ad-tracking infrastructure poses direct national security risks to military personnel.
The U.S. Department of Defense has disabled advertising tracking on government-issued phones and computers across the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and Special Operations Command to protect troops from location-based targeting by foreign adversaries.
The U.S. Department of Defense has disabled advertising IDs on military-issued iPhones, Android devices, and Windows computers managed across the federal military enterprise network, according to letters shared with Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), a senior member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Reuters first reported the development, noting the protections were rolled out earlier in 2026, with the Air Force implementing its changes as recently as July. The move aims to prevent hostile foreign governments from purchasing commercially available location data — harvested from apps on troops' phones and sold by data brokers — to target service members on the battlefield or at their bases. Disabling the advertising ID makes individual devices significantly harder to identify, as their location data blends with that of all other users with tracking disabled. Wyden had raised the alarm earlier this year after discovering that unnamed foreign adversaries had used commercially obtained location data to target U.S. troops in the Middle East. While praising the step, Wyden warned that personal devices belonging to troops and contractors brought onto military bases remain a persistent vulnerability. Notably, U.S. intelligence agencies and the FBI have themselves acknowledged purchasing location data for surveillance without a warrant.