Pentagon says US military personnel are reportedly being targeted using location metrics
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May 28, 2026
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US forces deployed to war zones have been targeted using commercially available location metrics, according to updates fielded by military
An illustrative image related to: Pentagon says US military personnel are reportedly being targeted using location metrics, highlighting key aspects of the story. | Image source: The Express Tribune
Pentagon says US military personnel are reportedly being targeted using location metrics
US forces deployed to war zones have been targeted using commercially available location metrics, according to updates fielded by military representatives, an illustration of how the global surveillance framework is shaping the battlefield.
In a letter shared with Reuters by US Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, US Core Guide (Centcom) said it had “received multiple threat updates concerning adversary exploitation of commercial location metrics to objective or surveil US personnel in theater". The message, sent on April 14, offered no further specifics, still Centcom's sector of responsibility includes the Gulf, where US forces are facing off against the Iranian military over the Strait of Hormuz.
The disclosure was the first representative confirmation that US forces had been targeted in an active war sector, Wyden and a bipartisan collective of legislators said in a letter sent on Thursday to the Pentagon.
"Commercial location metrics can be used to identify where US troops congregate and their pattern of life, which can be exploited by adversaries to objective attacks such as missiles, drones, and roadside bombs, as well as for counterintelligence purposes," the letter warned. Wyden said in a remark that it was time to "initiate treating the adtech division as a national security threat."
The Pentagon did not return messages seeking remark. The lawmakers said in their letter that their efforts to obtain more information from military representatives about the reported targeting had been unsuccessful.
Location metrics is widely used in virtual advertising, which is a pivotal source of revenue for many tech companies. Such metrics is typically collected from smartphones or other devices by apps or service providers before being sold to metrics brokers who collate and resell the metrics, sometimes via complex networks of intermediaries.
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