US military officials have stated that they have disabled advertising trackers on a variety of phones and computers, according to letters released by US Senator Ron Wyden and statements provided to Reuters.
This development follows reports indicating that commercially available location data had been used to target American forces in the Middle East.
The air force informed Wyden that it disabled the advertising identifiers on computers and mobile phones two months prior. The US Special Operations Command stated in a separate letter that it had "recently" disabled them on its Windows devices. The army told Reuters that advertising IDs linked to mobile devices had been disabled since earlier this year.
Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, has been raising concerns with the Pentagon on this issue for months.
The disclosures highlight a growing national security concern: that location data collected by the advertising industry and sold by data brokers – companies that compile and resell personal data – can be used to track and target military personnel deployed to war zones.
The air force and Special Operations Command declined to comment further. Similar letters from the army and navy to Wyden indicated that they had disabled advertising IDs on military devices but did not specify when these restrictions were implemented. The army stated that advertising IDs had been blocked on Windows computers "since before 2021," but that Android and Apple mobile devices only had this feature disabled by default "since at least February 2026."
Requests for comment from the navy went unanswered.
The effort to reduce the location data generated by smartphones comes as military officials consider 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 online were aiding Iran in targeting American bases in the region.
Wyden and Representative Pat Harrigan, a North Carolina Republican, sent a letter to the Pentagon on Friday requesting an investigation into whether the military had adequately addressed 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 stated that it was evident that the military's efforts "have not been effective at neutralizing this threat." Harrigan added that US enemies "should not be able to pull out a credit card and buy information that helps them track American troops."
The Pentagon responded via email, stating it would reply directly to the lawmakers.
Mobile advertising IDs, often abbreviated as MAID, 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 the privacy ad tech company Decryptads, described the efforts to disable MAID on military-operated devices as "definitely a positive thing."
He explained that the restrictions "will essentially ensure their location isn’t being included in bulk data sales being done by numerous vendors," though he cautioned that personnel might still be tracked through apps in other, more complex ways, such as by triangulating technical device details with network data or location information.
