In May 2026, Senator Ron Wyden brought to the attention of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) that foreign powers were potentially using commercial location data to target U.S. military personnel. In response, the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and Special Operations Command have taken steps to disable advertising tracking on all government-issued devices. These include smartphones running Apple and Android operating systems, as well as Windows computers. Some military branches had already begun implementing this change earlier in the year, while the Air Force reportedly completed the process in July 2026. Wyden praised the military’s efforts, noting that disabling ad tracking is a standard cybersecurity practice. However, he and Senator Pat Harrigan expressed concerns that recent reports suggest commercial location data from Department of Defense facilities is still being sold online. This raises questions about whether current policies are sufficient to protect troops stationed abroad. They emphasized that while the military has taken a defensive step, more needs to be done to address the ongoing risk. The issue arises because the commercial location data in question comes from personal devices, not government-issued phones. Many service members and government contractors carry their own devices, which can still collect and share location data. Even though the military has disabled tracking on official devices, this does not prevent data from personal devices from being sold, potentially exposing the locations of military personnel. In response, Wyden and Harrigan have called for the DoD inspector general to investigate the commercial location data that the DoD and other government agencies have already purchased. They want to understand why existing policies have not stopped the sale of service members' location data and to recommend changes that would better protect U.S. personnel. Their goal is to ensure that such data is no longer available for purchase and that stronger safeguards are in place to prevent future risks.