The Pentagon has banned deployed military personnel from using smartphones, smart watches fitness trackers and apps with geolocation enabled.
The move was made in response to a serious security risk identified in January, when publicly available Strava data was found to reveal both the locations and layouts of US military bases in countries like Syria and Afghanistan …
CNN reports that the Pentagon ban was signed on Friday, and came into immediate effect.
The ban, which applies to personal devices used by all personnel in ‘operational areas,’ even affects location-aware dating apps.
“It goes back to making sure we’re not giving the enemy an unfair advantage and we’re not showcasing the exact location of our troops worldwide,” Pentagon spokesman Col. Rob Manning told reporters Monday.
“This is all electronic devices that have geolocating features, basically GPS enabled devices, applications, that type of thing,” Manning added.
Military personnel may continue to use any of the devices if geolocation features have been disabled.
