Overview
- The Department of the Navy formalized Epic Vigilance in an administrative message that took effect on Aug. 19, instructing personnel, families and civilian staff to scrub social media and raise reporting of suspicious activity to NCIS.
- The Naval Criminal Investigative Service led the initiative as a force-protection effort designed to detect, deter and mitigate threats to Navy personnel and installations.
- Guidance tells people to set profiles private, remove any explicit Navy affiliation or identifying details, disable location services where possible, and report incidents such as suspicious filming, being followed, strange messages, or uncrewed aircraft near bases.
- The measures follow a July order to remove public portraits and biographies for commands led by vice admirals and lower ranks and keep some leadership pages less visible on public sites.
- Officials say the push responds to an evolving set of tactics — doxxing, coordinated harassment, drone surveillance, ground-level surveillance and attempted attacks — and it will change daily life by shifting more security duties onto families and requiring more routine reporting to NCIS.