Gen Z smartphone use in US military a security concern

U.S. military recruiters have faced multiple headwinds in recent years. Not only are fewer Americans signing up, but more than 70% of Americans aged 17-24 are already ineligible to join.

The Americans who are signing up are bringing with them a 21^st century challenge for officers: how can they keep troops off their smartphones?

Gen Z members, born between 1997 and 2012, are digital natives who have never known a world without smartphones. A Pew research study found almost half of American teenagers report being online almost constantly.

On Wednesday, Marine Commandant General David Berger said the addiction to digital devices can have a negative impact on a mission’s operational security. Tech-savvy enemy forces can track a phone’s electronic signature and use that data to identify enemy locations.

The dangers of using unsecured smartphones are on full display in the war in Ukraine. Perhaps the most prominent example featured a Russian general and his staff being killed by Ukrainians after his phone call was intercepted.

The U.S. military was concerned about servicemembers using personal electronic devices long before the war in Ukraine. In 2020, during a training exercise, a Marine lance corporal was responsible for fictitiously getting his unit killed after he posted a selfie online, which was then geolocated. Also in 2020, when the 82^nd Airborne deployed to the Middle East, its members had to leave smartphones and laptops behind due to security concerns.

The military already bans some apps for deployed troops. Fitness-tracking apps were banned in 2018 because heat maps showing the exercise routes troops were using kept popping up online. TikTok is also banned on military devices.