U.S. Warns Troops on Phone Use
PHOTO CAPTION: U.S. CENTCOM Commander Admiral Brad Cooper testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee on "The Posture of the U.S. Central Command and U.S. Africa Command in Review" on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 14, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
uly 29 — The top U.S. commander for the Middle East has warned service members that cellphone videos shared online can help Iran assess its strikes and target American bases.
Some deployed personnel could soon be ordered to surrender their phones, according to sources who spoke with Reuters.
Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, issued the warning in a previously unreported July 28 letter obtained by Reuters.
Cooper said Iran can determine whether its attacks succeeded or failed by searching news reports and online posts containing reactions, photos and videos recorded by U.S. troops.
“The direct, unavoidable cost of this open-source intelligence could be measured in the lives of American service members and civilian residents in targeted Gulf countries,” Cooper wrote.
He called on troops to “redouble our focus on operational security” but did not prescribe specific measures in the letter.
The warning highlights growing tension between real-time reporting on the war — including satellite imagery and firsthand accounts — and the military’s effort to restrict information that could help Iran attack U.S. forces.
In Jordan, which has repeatedly been targeted by Iranian strikes, some service members have been told their phones will be confiscated in the coming days, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
A third source said phone confiscations were being considered elsewhere in the region because of operational security concerns but stressed that no decision was certain.
U.S. Central Command spokesperson Captain Timothy Hawkins described Cooper’s message as a general operational-security reminder.
“This is one of many opportunities Admiral Cooper has used to convey operational priorities,” Hawkins said.
Cooper cited a video posted online this month that showed U.S. soldiers running for shelter during a deadly Iranian attack on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan on July 17.
The footage was recorded using Meta smart glasses with a built-in camera, Cooper wrote.
“Video captured from a service member’s Meta glasses was posted on Instagram showing where and how the individual had evacuated to a bunker during an Iranian missile and drone attack,” he said.
Cooper said Iran would normally have difficulty determining whether its strikes were successful because of U.S. electronic jamming and other tactics used in war zones.
“Iran knows the weapons were fired; however, their forces do not know if they missed by 50 meters, hit an empty tarmac, or successfully struck a crowded facility,” he wrote.
Cooper said detailed reports describing the damage effectively provide Iran with a free battle-damage assessment.
“Detailed lists, descriptions, and analyses of what was hit, openly published by news outlets are essentially performing Iran’s Battle Damage Assessment for them, free of charge,” he wrote.
Eighteen U.S. troops have been killed and more than 600 wounded in the conflict with Iran since it began on February 28.
Those casualties have increased public concern about a war supported by only one in three Americans.
Democratic lawmakers have sought additional information about the conflict, including damage to radar towers, barracks, aircraft hangars and other infrastructure at U.S. bases.
They have also called for the release of a U.S. military investigation into a likely American strike on a girls’ school in Iran on February 28, which Reuters first reported.
Rules governing cellphone use by deployed troops vary across the military.
Service members are sometimes required to secure their phones, and cellphones can be prohibited during particularly sensitive special operations missions.
The possibility of broader phone seizures has caused anxiety among some military families, two sources said. Many relatives rely on messages from deployed service members to confirm that they are safe.
U.S. officials have warned for years that mobile applications, including fitness apps, can reveal location data that adversaries could use for targeting.
Reuters reported in May that commercially available location data collected from smartphones and other devices had been used to target or monitor U.S. forces.
The Pentagon has also limited the release of information about Iranian attacks, citing operational-security concerns. It has frequently declined to address Iranian claims or disclose details about incidents that injured U.S. troops.
Cooper warned that publicly released damage information could help Iran plan additional strikes.
“Detailed public disclosures can become an immediate green light for Iranian forces to launch a secondary, much more devastating wave of attacks,” he wrote.
(Source: Reuters)
