Exclusive-US military turns off ad trackers on devices amid Middle East targeting reports

WASHINGTON, Sept 4 : U.S. military officials say they have disabled advertising trackers on a range of phones and computers, according to letters released on Friday by U.S. Senator Ron Wyden and statements given to Reuters, a development that follows reports that commercially available location data had been used to target American forces in the Middle East.The Air Force told Wyden it disabled the advertising identifiers on computers and mobile phones two months ago. U.S. Special Operations Command said in a separate letter that it had "recently" disabled them on its Windows devices. The Army told Reuters that advertising IDs tied to mobile devices had been disabled since earlier this year.Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, has pressed the Pentagon on the issue for months. The disclosures highligh