{"id":775,"date":"2026-05-29T11:07:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T11:07:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=775"},"modified":"2026-05-29T11:07:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T11:07:33","slug":"five-alarm-fire-lawmakers-say-pentagon-must-act-after-smartphone-data-used-to-target-u-s-troops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=775","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Five-alarm fire\u2019: Lawmakers say Pentagon must act after smartphone data used to target U.S. troops"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n

The ability of adversaries to use commercial location data from smartphones to find and target U.S. troops in the Middle East is a \u201cfive-alarm fire\u201d that demands immediate action, a group of bipartisan lawmakers said Thursday.<\/p>\n

Read more U.S. opens Ebola quarantine center in Kenya for potentially exposed Americans<\/a><\/p>\n

In a letter to Kirsten A. Davies, the Defense Department\u2019s chief information officer, the members of Congress urged the Defense Department to take multiple steps to address the growing threat posed by what\u2019s known as \u201cubiquitous technical surveillance.\u201d UTS refers to the trail, or what military officials call \u201cdigital exhaust,\u201d produced by modern smartphones.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That includes location data collected by smartphone apps, which an adversary can easily purchase from so-called data brokers in the same way that companies buy the data in order to track consumer behavior and tailor advertisements to specific individuals.<\/p>\n

In the letter, the lawmakers cited past examples of how commercial data was used to track phones from U.S. military bases, including at least one incident involving special forces personnel in Syria.<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cDoD officials have not treated this counterintelligence and force protection threat as a five-alarm fire,\u201d reads the letter, signed by 14 lawmakers, ranging from liberal senators such as Ron Wyden of Oregon and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts to conservative Republicans such as Reps. Pat Harrigan of North Carolina and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoD has known about this threat for over a decade, yet have failed to take meaningful steps to protect our men and women in uniform,\u201d the letter reads. \u201cThat is simply unacceptable. DoD must immediately adopt common-sense cyber protections to prevent the sale of location data that can undermine national security and risk the lives of U.S. personnel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO: The danger of digital footprints: How \u2018ubiquitous technical surveillance\u2019 threatens U.S. military<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Read more Shrey Parikh bounces back, battles nerves and dominates spell-off to win the National Spelling Bee<\/a><\/p>\n\n

Mr. Wyden also pointed to from U.S. Central Command, in response to questions from his office, which confirmed that the issue is at play in the Mideast, where U.S. troops have carried out operations against Iran.<\/p>\n

\u201cCENTCOM has received multiple threat reports concerning adversary exploitation of commercial location data to target or surveil U.S. personnel in theater,\u201d CENTCOM said in its response to Mr. Wyden.<\/p>\n

The group of lawmakers urged the Pentagon to disable advertising identification on all Pentagon-issued smartphones; implement a new policy mandating that advertising ID be disabled on all phones brought onto military bases or on overseas deployments; remove web browsers \u201cdesigned to facilitate data collection by Google,\u201d such as Google Chrome; and take other steps.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Adm. Frank M. Bradley, the head of U.S. Special Operations Command, told an audience at the recent Special Operations Forces Week convention that UTS is a serious concern for his personnel.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe now fight in a space of pervasive surveillance, a ubiquitous information environment driven by technical surveillance. Exquisite information is no longer the guarded property of governments or of the state. It is increasingly crowdsourced, exploitable and available to anyone with the will to look,\u201d he said in his May 19 speech to the conference in Tampa.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe accept this passive surveillance as background in today\u2019s modern societies,\u201d he said. \u201cBut take that same commercial technology and apply it to the battlefield \u2014 that same tracking, the open-source data, the digital exhaust from your web searches \u2014 and drop it into that contested battlefield environment. Suddenly, that digital footprint you\u2019ve created doesn\u2019t generate a targeted ad. It generates a grid coordinate for a precision munition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Judge allows Boston\u2019s sanctuary policy to stand<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The ability of adversaries to use commercial location data from smartphones to find and target U.S. troops in the Middle East is a “five-alarm fire” that demands immediate action, a group of bipartisan lawmakers said Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,8],"tags":[606],"class_list":["post-775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-security","tag-kirsten-a-davies"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018Five-alarm fire\u2019: Lawmakers say Pentagon must act after smartphone data used to target U.S. troops - Home Buyer Relocation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=775\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Five-alarm fire\u2019: Lawmakers say Pentagon must act after smartphone data used to target U.S. troops - Home Buyer Relocation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The ability of adversaries to use commercial location data from smartphones to find and target U.S. troops in the Middle East is a "five-alarm fire" that demands immediate action, a group of bipartisan lawmakers said Thursday.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=775\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Home Buyer Relocation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-29T11:07:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?p=775#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?p=775\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b2ac56955b020950324cad4c6c27b42a\"},\"headline\":\"\u2018Five-alarm fire\u2019: Lawmakers say Pentagon must act after smartphone data used to target U.S. troops\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-29T11:07:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?p=775\"},\"wordCount\":627,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?p=775#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/1437192e2d8feaf12a2a36b45a7a5af1.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"Kirsten A. Davies\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\",\"Security\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?p=775#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?p=775\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?p=775\",\"name\":\"\u2018Five-alarm fire\u2019: Lawmakers say Pentagon must act after smartphone data used to target U.S. troops - Home Buyer Relocation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?p=775#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?p=775#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/1437192e2d8feaf12a2a36b45a7a5af1.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-29T11:07:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b2ac56955b020950324cad4c6c27b42a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?p=775#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?p=775\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?p=775#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/1437192e2d8feaf12a2a36b45a7a5af1.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/1437192e2d8feaf12a2a36b45a7a5af1.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":700},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?p=775#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\u2018Five-alarm fire\u2019: Lawmakers say Pentagon must act after smartphone data used to target U.S. troops\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Home Buyer Relocation\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b2ac56955b020950324cad4c6c27b42a\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u2018Five-alarm fire\u2019: Lawmakers say Pentagon must act after smartphone data used to target U.S. troops - Home Buyer Relocation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=775","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u2018Five-alarm fire\u2019: Lawmakers say Pentagon must act after smartphone data used to target U.S. troops - Home Buyer Relocation","og_description":"The ability of adversaries to use commercial location data from smartphones to find and target U.S. troops in the Middle East is a \"five-alarm fire\" that demands immediate action, a group of bipartisan lawmakers said Thursday.","og_url":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=775","og_site_name":"Home Buyer Relocation","article_published_time":"2026-05-29T11:07:33+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=775#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=775"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b2ac56955b020950324cad4c6c27b42a"},"headline":"\u2018Five-alarm fire\u2019: Lawmakers say Pentagon must act after smartphone data used to target U.S. troops","datePublished":"2026-05-29T11:07:33+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=775"},"wordCount":627,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=775#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1437192e2d8feaf12a2a36b45a7a5af1.webp","keywords":["Kirsten A. Davies"],"articleSection":["News","Security"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=775#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=775","url":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=775","name":"\u2018Five-alarm fire\u2019: Lawmakers say Pentagon must act after smartphone data used to target U.S. troops - Home Buyer Relocation","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=775#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=775#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1437192e2d8feaf12a2a36b45a7a5af1.webp","datePublished":"2026-05-29T11:07:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b2ac56955b020950324cad4c6c27b42a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=775#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=775"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=775#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1437192e2d8feaf12a2a36b45a7a5af1.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1437192e2d8feaf12a2a36b45a7a5af1.webp","width":1200,"height":700},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=775#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u2018Five-alarm fire\u2019: Lawmakers say Pentagon must act after smartphone data used to target U.S. troops"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/","name":"Home Buyer Relocation","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b2ac56955b020950324cad4c6c27b42a","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com"],"url":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}