US Navy Issues 'Epic Vigilance' Directive Advising Personnel to Scrub Military Ties from Social Media

Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao issued an official department-wide notice titled 'Epic Vigilance: Immediate Actions for Force Protection and Personal Security,' directing over 600,000 active-duty, reserve, and civilian personnel and their families to harden their online privacy settings and remove all affiliations with the Department of the Navy from social media. The directive responds to an ongoing, coordinated multi-domain campaign by hostile actors linked to the conflict with Iran. Adversary efforts include online doxing, base surveillance by uncrewed aircraft systems (drones), physical access probes, off-installation harassment, and mining commercially available data and fitness tracking apps like Strava. Personnel are advised to set social media accounts to private, eliminate pattern-of-life details, and immediately report suspicious activities, cyber threats, or surveillance to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) or base security.

// Background

The heightening of force protection guidelines comes amid Operation Epic Fury, a joint U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran initiated on February 28, 2026, which has incurred significant casualties. Foreign intelligence efforts have increasingly relied on open-source intelligence and commercial application data, such as Strava routes in combat zones, to track personnel habits. This latest advisory builds upon earlier security warnings, including a spring cyber security memo by former Acting Navy Secretary John Phelan and December CENTCOM directives restricting device geolocation, while the Navy simultaneously navigates operational strain across several global deployments.

// Key Developments

• Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao issued the 'Epic Vigilance' directive targeting 340,000 active-duty, 58,000 reserve, and 210,000 civilian personnel.
• Service members and their families are advised to set all social media accounts to private and erase any visible connections to the Department of the Navy.
• Threats cited include drone surveillance over installations, suspicious base probing, off-installation harassment, cyber doxing, and physical surveillance.
• Adversaries have actively mined public data and fitness tracking apps like Strava to target service members, including locations in Bahrain and Jordan.
• The directive follows the launch of Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28, 2026, which has resulted in 18 U.S. service member fatalities and over 750 wounded.