As the conflict in Iran intensifies again, the military is homing in on an unconventional target: U.S. troops’ cellphones.
Citing interviews with military officials, Reuters reported that the U.S. may soon begin confiscating the cellphones of service members stationed in the Middle East. The officials said the Iranian military can use videos posted online by American soldiers in the region to better pinpoint where troops are stationed on bases, potentially leading to more casualties.
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The report follows what the U.S. Central Command called an “attempted surprise attack” on U.S. troops by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Officials said missiles fired at U.S. installations were intercepted and that no American forces were wounded.
Confiscating the phones would significantly reduce the ability of U.S. personnel to communicate with loved ones and friends. It also could cut off a source of unfiltered information about dangers experienced by service members as the war enters its sixth month.
Why does the military think banning cell phones would help?
The CENTCOM commander, Adm. Brad Cooper, said in a previously unreported letter that videos of Iran’s attacks taken by U.S. troops were benefiting the regime, Reuters reported. He said that the “reactions, photos, and footage from the cellphones of our troops” and the subsequent reporting of it by news outlets allow Iran to see how successful their strikes are.
While he didn’t offer specific steps to address the issue, Cooper called on troops to “redouble our focus on operational security.”
Reuters reported that some troops in Jordan, which Iran has frequently targeted, have been told officials will soon confiscate their phones. Others in the region told the outlet that the move was being considered but wasn’t a certainty.
“The message is a general reminder to our service members on the importance of maintaining operational security,” a CENTCOM spokesperson, Capt. Timothy Hawkins, told Reuters. “This is one of many opportunities Admiral Cooper has used to convey operational priorities.”
In his letter, Cooper highlighted a video taken with Meta smart glasses. It showed soldiers running for shelter during a deadly Iranian missile attack in Jordan on July 17.
Cooper said Iran would typically have a hard time determining how effective a strike has been because of U.S. jamming systems and other tactics, Reuters reported.
“Detailed lists, descriptions, and analyses of what was hit, openly published by news outlets are essentially performing Iran’s Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) for them, free of charge,” Cooper wrote in his letter.
He also emphasized that public disclosures of details about strikes could prompt Iran to launch “a secondary, much more devastating wave of attacks.”
War in the modern era
U.S. officials have previously warned that adversaries can exploit apps, like fitness trackers, to target U.S. forces. In May, Reuters reported that foreign governments have used location data from commercially available apps to track and target U.S. forces.
Lawmakers have pushed for the Department of Defense to prevent adversaries from obtaining service members’ personal information, including phone location data. They say the Defense Department knew about the concerns for at least a decade after a government contractor briefed the Joint Special Operations Command on the issue.
“That foreign adversaries are still able to buy location data collected from the phones of U.S. personnel serving in military hotspots is a direct result of DoD leadership’s failure to prioritize this threat and implement commonsense cyber defenses recommended by federal cybersecurity experts,” lawmakers wrote in a letter to the Defense Department.
Rules around personal cell phone use vary across the military, officials told Reuters. In some instances, officials ask service members to lock them away. Other times they are outright banned from use on sensitive missions conducted by special operations forces.
The possible change to cellphones has caused anxiety among some service members’ families, two sources told the outlet. Those anxieties have only heightened after President Donald Trump said in early July that the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran had collapsed. At least 18 U.S. service members have died since the conflict began earlier this year.
