Commercial location data has exposed U.S. troops in war zones

Commercial location data has given adversaries a window into where U.S. troops gather in war zones, exposing phone trails, routines and operating patterns that can be turned into targeting intelligence. In a letter shared with Sen. Ron Wyden, U.S. Central Command said it had received multiple threat reports about enemies using commercially available location data to target or surveil U.S. personnel in theater.

The warning carries special weight in the Gulf, where American forces face off against Iranian military power around the Strait of Hormuz. Lawmakers said this was the first official confirmation that U.S. forces had been targeted in an active war zone. The data at issue can show where troops gather and what their pattern of life looks like, giving adversaries information that can support missiles, drones, roadside bombs and counterintelligence.

The policy gap is larger than the battlefield. Wyden said the adtech industry should be treated as a national security threat because the same data economy that powers digital advertising can also expose service members and ordinary Americans. The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment, and lawmakers said their efforts to get more information from military officials had not succeeded.

Congress has been chasing this problem for years. On March 29, 2023, Bill Cassidy, Elizabeth Warren and then-Sen. Marco Rubio reintroduced the Protecting Military Service Members’ Data Act, which would have barred data brokers from selling, reselling, trading, licensing or otherwise providing lists of military service members to adversarial nations. Their warning was explicit: military personnel data can include addresses, political beliefs and lifestyle choices.

The threat has only grown alongside the digital economy. In testimony on Oct. 7, 2025, Justin Sherman told the Senate Armed Services Committee that commercial data and digital connectivity have exploded over the last two decades, while China and Russia are investing to exploit those vulnerabilities. That shift has turned commercial tracking products into tools that can map the movements of soldiers as easily as shoppers.

Regulators have started to move, but unevenly. The Federal Trade Commission finalized an order against X-Mode Social and successor Outlogic on April 12, 2024, and another against Gravy Analytics and Venntel on Jan. 14, 2025, both aimed at stopping the sale or sharing of sensitive location data. In a March 3, 2026 letter, Wyden said Department of Homeland Security components had previously violated federal law by buying Americans’ location data, that Immigration and Customs Enforcement ended a prior purchase program in 2023, and that the DHS inspector general found Customs and Border Protection, ICE and the U.S. Secret Service had violated federal law through warrantless purchase and use of location data.

The military disclosure now lands in the middle of that unsettled market. It shows that the same commercial systems built to profile consumers can also reveal troops, bases and movement patterns, leaving national security, privacy and regulation locked in the same fight.