Navy warns all sailors to be vigilant against increased threats

By Bill Gertz - The Washington Times - Tuesday, August 25, 2026

All Navy personnel and their families face increased dangers of attacks from terrorism, drones and online threats since the Iran war began and are being urged to tighten security, Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao said in a recent security notice.

The service’s 51,000 officers, 283,000 enlisted personnel and their families face an “evolving threat landscape” since military operation Epic Fury began in February, Mr. Cao stated in a Wednesday “Alnav” message sent throughout the sea service and Marine Corps.

In response, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service listed four threat vectors in the current environment, including recent drone aircraft incidents, cyber threats, suspicious activity and unspecified acts of violence, the notice stated.

The NCIS launched a program dubbed Epic Vigilance, a force protection plan aimed at detecting, deterring and responding to threats to Navy facilities and people.

“In the current global security climate, adversaries and hostile actors are executing a coordinated, multi-domain campaign against the [Department of Navy] enterprise,” the notice said.

“Recent incidents across the globe demonstrate a clear growth in adversary tactics, techniques, and procedures. These are not isolated events; they are part of a deliberate effort to gather intelligence, test our defenses, disrupt our operations, and intimidate our force.”

A Navy official said the notice was issued in response to unspecified adversary threats.

“This proactive directive is part of our ongoing commitment to ensuring the force protection and personal security of our service members and their families,” the official said.

The main threats NCIS reported included direct threats and harassment on social media and online platforms. The activities have included doxing — publishing personal information of Navy and Marine personnel.

Another key threat has included drone surveillance of warships, flight lines, and critical infrastructure. The drones have shown increasing capability to evade detection, the notice said.

Surveillance on the ground by suspicious actors near Navy installations and nearby communities has also been observed.

Navy personnel also have been subjected to attempted physical attacks and probes against control points at bases. The attempts show “a willingness by adversaries to move from threatening words to direct action,” the notice said.

NCIS also reported coordinated harassment campaigns that were designed to test security responses and personnel endurance at widely dispersed locations.

Calling for greater awareness, the NCIS urged all personnel to bolster personal and family security by removing personal information from all social media accounts, setting profiles to private and removing all information that could reveal links to the service and patterns of life.

“Adversaries are actively mining this data,” the notice said.

Based on recent threat events, all service members are urged to report possible surveillance of people lingering or photographing ships, aircraft, housing areas or bases. The use of telephoto lenses to surveil areas and efforts to conceal the activity are indicators of suspicious activity.

Regarding drones, sailors are urged to report any uncrewed system near a base, pier, or flight line regardless of size and especially those spotted at night near sensitive locations.

People who ask suspicious questions or seek to elicit information about ship or force movements should be reported as well. Threat actors also will seek to follow and confront personnel while in uniform and near residences.

Cyber dangers include. threatening or suspicious emails or social media messages from fake media accounts posing as shipmates, the notice said.

“By embracing this heightened posture of vigilance, we will safeguard our force, protect our families, and ensure the unhindered execution of our national security mission,” the notice stated.

The notice did not provide details on the recent incidents that prompted the warning.

A recent Iran-related terrorism case linked to the Navy involved former sailor Xuanyu Harry Pang, who pleaded guilty in February 2025 to plotting an attack on Naval Station Great Lakes on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The Navy in April warned that an Iran-linked hacking group was engaged in a spear-phishing and social engineering campaign against Navy personnel, and in May the Iran-linked group called the Handala Hack Team was blamed for sending threatening WhatsApp texts to Navy and Marine personnel in Bahrain, where the 5th Fleet has its headquarters.

The group claimed to hold information on thousands of deployed U.S. troops.

A cyber threat reported earlier this month involved American military personnel using fitness apps such as Strava that were tracked to Central Command areas that were later targeted by Iran with missile strikes.

The newsletter Task & Purpose stated that the apps were revealing troop movement patterns at bases in Bahrain and Jordon – both hit by Iranian strikes.

Drone incidents involving U.S. military bases have included waves of unidentified unmanned aircraft at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, in March, where B-52s are based and nuclear weapons are stored.

Diego Garcia naval base also reported drone activity and the Indian Ocean base was also targeted by long-range Iranian missiles.

The Marine Corps base at Camp Pendleton in the past reported six drone incursions in 2024.

Military leaders have warned that U.S. bases are ill-prepared for Ukrainian-style mass drone attacks.

A specialized counter-drone unit has begun a directed energy pilot program at several military bases that is expected to be a major effort to use high-energy lasers and high-powered microwaves to attack intruding drones near bases.

The unit is called Joint Interagency Task Force 401 and will conduct a “directed energy shoot-off” against target drones later this year, according to Brig. Gen. Matt Ross, the group’s commander.

“We need to develop the tactics, techniques and procedures to be able to use them on a base in a way that doesn’t impede the critical functions of that base,” Gen. Ross told the online newsletter DefenseScoop.

The beam weapons will be deployed at the Army’s Fort Huachuca in Arizona; Fort Bliss, Texas; Naval Base Kitsap, Washington; Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota; and Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri.

Recent Chinese intelligence operations targeting the Navy have included the recruitment of Jinchao Wei, a machinist mate on the amphibious assault ship USS Essex, who was sentenced Jan. 13 to 16 years for espionage after a Chinese intelligence officer posing as a “naval enthusiast” recruited him to spy via social media.