The Pentagon has confirmed that U.S. military personnel deployed overseas are being targeted and surveilled using commercially available location data collected from smartphones and digital advertising systems.
The alarming disclosure emerged through a letter from U.S. Central Command referenced by Sen. Ron Wyden and a bipartisan group of lawmakers pressing the Defense Department for stronger digital security protections.
According to the lawmakers, CENTCOM acknowledged receiving “multiple threat reports” involving adversaries exploiting commercial location data “to target or surveil U.S. personnel in theater.”
The reports did not publicly identify which hostile actors were involved. But CENTCOM’s operational area includes the Persian Gulf and broader Middle East, where U.S. forces remain in active confrontation with Iran and Iranian-backed militias amid escalating regional tensions.
How troops are being tracked
The issue centers on the massive global market for commercial location data generated through smartphones, apps, advertising identifiers, and digital tracking systems.
Many mobile apps continuously collect geolocation information and sell it through data brokers to advertisers, analytics firms, and third parties.
Lawmakers warn that hostile governments, terror groups, militias, and foreign intelligence services can purchase or otherwise obtain the same information to monitor troop concentrations, movement patterns, and operational routines.
“Commercial location data can be used to identify where U.S. troops congregate and their pattern of life,” lawmakers warned in their letter to the Pentagon.
Officials fear the data could potentially help adversaries coordinate missile strikes, drone attacks, roadside bombs, surveillance operations, or counterintelligence targeting.
Pentagon warned for years
The revelation is especially striking because military officials and cybersecurity experts have warned about these vulnerabilities for nearly a decade.
Reports dating back years showed researchers could purchase location information tied to military personnel and sensitive government facilities for extremely small amounts of money through commercial data marketplaces.
According to Wired, Pentagon officials repeatedly delayed or ignored recommended security reforms despite longstanding warnings from intelligence and cyber experts.
Some lawmakers are now accusing the Defense Department of moving far too slowly to protect service members from what they describe as an obvious and growing battlefield threat.
Iran conflict intensifies concerns
The warnings come during an especially dangerous period for U.S. forces in the Middle East.
American troops and bases have faced repeated missile and drone threats during the ongoing Iran conflict and Strait of Hormuz crisis.
Earlier this year, a deadly Iranian-linked drone attack on Port Shuaiba in Kuwait killed multiple U.S. service members. Subsequent investigations reportedly suggested Iranian intelligence may have tracked American troop movements before the strike.
Military officials have also reported increased reconnaissance drone activity around U.S. installations in the region.
The Pentagon has not publicly stated whether the newly disclosed commercial data targeting directly contributed to any specific attacks.
Congress demands stronger protections
Lawmakers are now urging the Pentagon to implement stricter cybersecurity and device controls across the military.
Recommendations reportedly include disabling advertising IDs on government devices, restricting data-harvesting apps, tightening personal phone policies, and potentially limiting use of browsers and software platforms that collect large amounts of behavioral data.
Critics say simply disabling location services on phones is often not enough because many commercial systems can still infer movement and behavioral patterns through app activity and advertising identifiers.
The broader concern extends beyond the military itself.
Security experts increasingly warn that the same commercial surveillance ecosystem used for targeted advertising has quietly created one of the largest intelligence vulnerabilities in modern warfare.
And now, according to the Pentagon itself, America’s adversaries appear to be exploiting it in real time.
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