U.S. troops deployed in active war zones are now being hunted with data ripped straight from their smartphones, according to new reports verified by military officials.

The revelation, quietly confirmed by the War Department through U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), exposes how the global surveillance and “adtech” industry has been weaponized against our own service members.

Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, released a letter from CENTCOM acknowledging that it had “received multiple threat reports concerning adversary exploitation of commercial location data to target or surveil U.S. personnel in theater.”

The message dated April 14 did not specify which units were affected, but CENTCOM’s area of responsibility includes volatile regions like the Persian Gulf, where U.S. forces frequently face Iranian provocations.

Here's What They're Not Telling You About Your Retirement

This marks the first official acknowledgment that U.S. forces have been directly targeted in active combat zones using commercial data.

Wyden and a bipartisan group of lawmakers said so in their joint letter to the War Department, warning that the “patterns of life” obtained from mobile location trails could easily allow enemies to plan attacks such as drone strikes or roadside bombings.

“Commercial location data can be used to identify where U.S. troops congregate and their pattern of life,” the letter stated, adding that such information can also fuel enemy counterintelligence efforts.

Wyden went further, declaring that America must start “treating the adtech industry as a national security threat.”

This Could Be the Most Important Video Gun Owners Watch All Year

The War Department declined to comment on the situation or respond to questions about what specific steps are being taken to protect troops.

Lawmakers expressed frustration that their attempts to obtain additional information had been ignored, even as evidence of ongoing exploitation piles up.

At the heart of this issue is the digital advertising industry, which profits from selling movement and behavioral data harvested from practically every app and device imaginable.

Most users have little idea that their phone constantly shares location details that are sold, re-sold, and resold again through endless chains of data brokers.

Those brokers often repurpose this data into analytics packages easily accessed by anyone with enough money—friends or foes alike.

Privacy advocates have warned for years about the dangers of this data free-for-all. But when it comes to troop safety, the stakes go far beyond personal privacy.

The ability to trace American servicemembers from home base to deployment zones, even to the exact barracks they sleep in, transforms civilian marketing data into a stealth battlefield weapon.

This problem isn’t new. As early as 2016, a U.S. defense contractor discovered that commercially available data could be used to track special operations troops from American soil all the way to a covert staging area in Syria.

That revelation, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, should have triggered immediate reforms inside the War Department.

Instead, little changed. Just last year, a joint investigation by Wired and German news outlets used data from a single broker to expose the movements of people stationed near 11 U.S. military and intelligence installations in Germany.

The evidence suggests adversaries don’t need spies anymore—they can buy live troop locations from tech companies.

Digital advertising trade groups, including the Interactive Advertising Bureau and Association of National Advertisers, declined to answer questions about their industry’s negligence.

Their silence speaks volumes about priorities in Silicon Valley’s money machine.

Lawmakers blasted the War Department for moving too slowly to mitigate the threat.

They recommended basic tactical adjustments like disabling unique advertising IDs on military-issued phones and automatically shutting off location sharing for service members in operational areas.

The group also urged military personnel to stop using Google Chrome, calling for more privacy-focused alternatives.

Representative Pat Harrigan, a North Carolina Republican and former Army Special Forces officer, was among the letter’s signers.

Harrigan argued that browsers like Chrome “are built from the ground up to collect and share user data,” warning that “every day they remain on government-issued devices is another day we are handing our adversaries a weapon against our own troops.”

Google, for its part, defended its browser in a statement claiming Chrome has “industry leading security” and insisted it has “long advocated for stronger rules and safeguards against data brokers.”

But even Google admits it does little to prevent other companies in its ad ecosystem from buying or selling that same sensitive location data.

This latest breach of operational security is more than just a bureaucratic embarrassment—it’s a direct vulnerability that puts American servicemen and women at risk.

The fact that tech giants continue prioritizing profit over patriotism should outrage every citizen who values the safety of those defending our freedom.

If Washington had the spine to take serious action, the unrestricted trade of American data—especially that tied to our troops—would already be outlawed.

But until President Trump’s America First strategy is fully embraced in this domain, adversaries will continue exploiting Silicon Valley’s greed to spy on and target our soldiers.

The battlefield of the future is already here. And it’s not just fought with guns and drones, but with data that U.S. tech companies are willingly selling to the highest bidder.

It’s past time the War Department and Congress treat this digital betrayal as what it really is—a national security emergency.

Warning: Account balances and purchasing power no longer tell the same story. Know in 2 minutes if your retirement is working for you.