U.S. military officials have disabled advertising trackers on a range of mobile phones and computers following reports that commercially available location data was used to target American forces in the Middle East, according to letters released Friday by Sen. Ron Wyden and statements to Reuters.
The Air Force told Wyden that it disabled advertising identifiers on computers and mobile phones about two months ago. U.S. Special Operations Command said in a separate letter that it had “recently” disabled the identifiers on its Windows devices.
The Army told Reuters that advertising IDs associated with mobile devices have been disabled since earlier this year.
The disclosures came after Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, spent months pressing the Pentagon over the potential national security risks posed by commercially collected location data.
The issue centers on advertising identifiers that can help companies track devices and build detailed profiles of users. Data brokers can then collect, aggregate and sell that information, potentially making sensitive location data available to buyers.
The military's move underscores growing concerns that such data could be exploited to locate and monitor U.S. service members, particularly those deployed in conflict zones or other sensitive areas.
The Air Force and Special Operations Command declined further comment. Similar letters from the Army and Navy to Wyden said they had disabled advertising IDs on military devices but gave no indication of when the restrictions were imposed.
The Army said in a statement that advertising IDs had been blocked on Windows computers “since before 2021,” but that the feature on Android and Apple mobile devices had only been disabled by default “since at least February 2026.”
Messages seeking comment from the Navy went unanswered.
The effort to reduce the location data generated by smartphones comes as military officials weigh increasingly strict restrictions on phone use overall.
In July, Reuters reported that some deployed personnel in the Middle East could be ordered to surrender their phones amid concerns that mobile videos they were posting to the internet were helping Iran target American bases in the region.
Wyden and U.S. Rep. Pat Harrigan, a North Carolina Republican, sent a letter to the Pentagon on Friday asking for an investigation into whether the military had properly countered the dangers of the location data trade.
The letter included updates from the various service branches on their efforts to disable advertising IDs on military devices.
Wyden said in a statement that it was clear the military's efforts “have not been effective at neutralizing this threat.” Harrigan said that U.S. enemies “should not be able to pull out a credit card and buy information that helps them track American troops.”
The Pentagon said in an email that it would respond to the lawmakers directly.
Mobile advertising IDs, often abbreviated as MAIDs, are unique identifiers tied to specific devices that can be used to track a person's activity across mobile apps and pinpoint their physical location.
Zach Edwards, co-founder of privacy ad tech company Decryptads, said that efforts to disable MAIDs on military-operated devices were “definitely a positive thing.”
The restrictions “will essentially ensure their location isn't being included in bulk data sales being done by numerous vendors,” Edwards said, although he cautioned that personnel might still be tracked through apps in other, more complicated ways, such as by triangulating technical device details with network data or location information.
