Overview
- Admiral Brad Cooper, in a July 28 letter, warned that photos, videos and social posts from service members let Iran judge the success of its missile and drone strikes in near real time.
- Two sources told Reuters that some U.S. personnel in Jordan have been informed their phones may be confiscated in the coming days and CENTCOM is said to be considering wider restrictions across the region.
- Cooper pointed to a Meta smart‑glasses video from the July 17 strike on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base that showed troops moving to a bunker as a concrete example of how posted footage reveals where personnel sheltered.
- Commanders face a trade‑off between force protection and troop morale because many deployed service members rely on personal devices to check in with family and get reassurance from home.
- The warning builds on earlier Pentagon concerns that commercial location data and app tracking can be exploited to surveil forces and comes as the conflict with Iran has reportedly cost about 18 U.S. lives and left more than 600 wounded.