Navy orders sailors, Marines and families to purge military ties from social media

In response to an expanding threat environment, the Department of the Navy introduced Epic Vigilance, a department-wide effort to detect and deter cyber and physical threats. Sailors, Marines and their families must audit their social-media accounts, hide or delete any content that reveals a connection to the Navy, and promptly report suspicious behavior. The initiative highlights risks such as doxing, drone surveillance, and coordinated harassment campaigns.

Acting Secretary Hung Cao emphasized that adversaries are increasingly mining publicly available data to target personnel. Additionally, the Navy ordered the removal of public biographies and photos of command officers at the three-star level and below, while retaining such information for four-star admirals on internal sites.