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conflict, war and peace

US military branches disable ad trackers on service members' devices

Illustration accompanying article: US military branches disable ad trackers on service members' devices
  • The Air Force, Army, and US Special Operations Command have disabled mobile advertising identifiers on military computers and phones, according to letters the services sent to Senator Ron Wyden and released Friday.
  • Wyden and Representative Pat Harrigan sent a joint letter to the Pentagon asking for an investigation into whether the military has properly countered the dangers of the location data trade.
  • Wyden said the military's efforts "have not been effective at neutralizing this threat," and Harrigan said US enemies "should not be able to pull out a credit card and buy information that helps them track American troops."
  • Zach Edwards, co-founder of the privacy ad technology company Decryptads, said disabling the identifiers "will essentially ensure their location isn't being included in bulk data sales being done by numerous vendors," but cautioned that personnel may still be trackable through triangulated device and network data.
 2026-09-04 · 3 MIN READ

Vance says 'things happen' after US strike kills four at Iran wedding

Illustration accompanying article: Vance says 'things happen' after US strike kills four at Iran wedding
  • US Vice President JD Vance told reporters at the White House on Thursday that "sometimes things happen" when asked whether a US strike killed four people, including a child, at a wedding celebration in southern Iran.
  • The Iranian Red Crescent reported the strike hit Kuhestak in Sirik county on the Strait of Hormuz, killing four people and wounding more than fifty others.
  • Vance said he was "extremely skeptical" of Iranian reporting on the strike, which US Central Command said was part of a broader package targeting Iranian air defenses, radar systems and maritime assets.
  • A February 28 US strike on a school compound in Minab, roughly 23 miles from Kuhestak, killed at least 156 people — most of them schoolchildren — in what a preliminary US inquiry attributed to outdated targeting coordinates.
 2026-09-03 · 5 MIN READ
Illustration accompanying article: Trump signals US would not back UK in future Falklands conflict