Navy Orders Personnel and Families to Scrub Social Media as ‘Epic Vigilance’ Threat Warning Takes Effect

Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao directs Sailors, Marines, reservists, civilian employees and military families to hide Department of the Navy ties amid doxing, drone surveillance, cyber threats and suspected physical-security probes.

WASHINGTON | The Department of the Navy has issued an urgent force-protection warning directing personnel and their families to review social media accounts, restrict public access and remove information that could expose their military connections or daily routines.

The Aug. 19 message, titled “Epic Vigilance: Immediate Actions for Force Protection and Personal Security,” describes what Navy leaders characterize as a coordinated, multidomain threat campaign targeting Department of the Navy personnel, installations, warships, aircraft and families.

Released as ALNAV 050/26 by Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao, the directive applies broadly to Sailors, Marines, reservists, civilian employees and family members. It warns of online harassment, doxing, uncrewed aircraft surveillance, suspicious activity near installations, attempted physical-security breaches and campaigns intended to test the endurance of security forces.

The Navy’s central message is direct: Personnel and their families should assume that adversaries are collecting publicly available information and combining seemingly harmless details to identify military affiliations, movements and vulnerabilities.

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

The official ALNAV 050/26 force-protection message does not identify a single triggering incident or name the foreign governments, extremist organizations or individual actors believed to be responsible. Instead, it describes a pattern of activity that naval leaders say has intensified since the beginning of Operation Epic Fury.

ICE Halts Deportation of Fort Bliss Soldier’s Wife After Last-Minute ‘Legal Impediment’

The Honduran national remains detained on the same Army installation where her husband serves, raising questions about due process, military family-care plans and coordination between immigration and defense officials.

EL PASO, Texas | Federal immigration officials halted the deportation of an Army sergeant’s wife after determining that a “legal impediment” prevented her removal, leaving the Fort Bliss military family facing continued separation and uncertainty over what comes next.

Cristy Maryori Villafranca Trejo, a 29-year-old Honduran national, was removed from a scheduled deportation flight after the legal issue arose, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Her claims will now receive consideration through the Justice Department, DHS said.

The department did not publicly identify the legal obstacle, explain when officials discovered it or indicate whether another attempt to remove Villafranca could occur.

DHS said the scheduled deportation was stopped Aug. 17. Her husband, Army Sgt. Hedár Leonel Turcios Juárez, said the incident unfolded during the early morning hours of Tuesday, Aug. 18. Federal officials have not reconciled that discrepancy.

The episode adds another layer of uncertainty to an immigration case that has disrupted the soldier’s household, complicated his child-care arrangements and raised broader questions about how immigration enforcement involving military dependents can affect troop readiness.

Veterans Golfers Deliver Strong Scores as VGA Competition Takes Center Stage at Lakewood Golf Course

Improved course conditions and cooler late-August weather set the stage for a competitive Veterans Golfers Association event as Trey Long, Jacob Hawn, Michael Lemieux and other military veterans captured flight victories.

PHENIX CITY, Ala. | The Veterans Golfers Association returned to Lakewood Golf Course for a late-August competition that combined improving course conditions, lower scores and the camaraderie that has become a hallmark of VGA events across the South.

Players representing the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard competed across multiple flights, with golfers traveling from Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi.

By the time the final scorecards were turned in, Trey Long, Jacob Hawn, Michael Lemieux, Dylan Earnest, James Hopper, Deandra Carlisle, Harold Tukes and Paul Forsythe had emerged as flight winners

The competition also featured four proximity contests, with John Johnson, Rodney Allen, Trey Long and Doug Fiest taking honors.

But the results told only part of the story.

For competitors returning to Lakewood after several years away, improvements to the golf course were immediately noticeable.

Lakewood's Course Improvements Draw Praise

Lakewood's fairways were in very good condition, while the greens showed significant improvement from the VGA's previous visit.

Players found putting surfaces with few noticeable imperfections, contributing to scoring conditions that helped produce lower numbers across several flights.

The course's continued progress made an impression on organizers.

Cal Poly Enters New Era With Semester Shift, Maritime Integration and Major Campus Expansion

Cal Poly’s 2026-27 academic year brings one of the university’s most consequential transformations in decades, including an August semester start, full integration of the Solano campus, expanded degree pathways, new facilities, housing and a growing Pac-12 presence.

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. | When Cal Poly students return to campus this fall, they will encounter more than the usual signs of a new academic year.

They are returning to a university undergoing a significant institutional transformation.

For the first time, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, will operate on a semester calendar, ending its longstanding quarter system and aligning its academic schedule with other California State University campuses.

But the calendar change is only part of a much broader transition.

The 2026-27 academic year also brings deeper integration of Cal Poly Maritime Academy and the Solano Campus, expanded bachelor's degree pathways at California community colleges, new academic and commercial facilities, additional student housing and changes across Cal Poly athletics — including men's soccer joining the Pac-12 Conference as an associate member.

Taken together, the changes represent a pivotal moment for one of California's most recognizable public universities.

SDSU President Adela de la Torre Charts Ambitious Five-Year Future as University Builds on Historic Growth

At San Diego State’s 2026 All-University Convocation, de la Torre outlined a five-part strategy centered on research, expansion, reputation, and long-term sustainability as universities confront enrollment pressures, artificial intelligence, and economic uncertainty.

SAN DIEGO | San Diego State University President Adela de la Torre opened the 2026-27 academic year with a message that combined celebration with urgency: SDSU's recent transformation has created opportunities, but maintaining that momentum will require the university to think bigger about what comes next.

Speaking before nearly 1,000 faculty and staff members at the annual All-University Convocation, de la Torre outlined a vision for the next five years that seeks to capitalize on SDSU's emergence as an R1 research institution, its expanding Mission Valley campus, new investments at Imperial Valley and its entry into the Pac-12 Conference.

The objective, she said, is not simply to preserve what SDSU has accomplished but to use those achievements as a foundation for "an even more ambitious future."

"If we do not ask big questions, we will never arrive at big answers," de la Torre said Thursday at the Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union.

It was a fitting theme for a university whose trajectory increasingly reflects the broader transformation — and challenges — reshaping American higher education.

SDSU Women’s Soccer Looks to Rebound Against Portland State as Aztecs Return to Sports Deck

San Diego State enters Sunday’s matchup at 1-1 after pushing No. 10 Washington in a defensive battle, while Portland State searches for its first victory of the 2026 season.

SAN DIEGO | San Diego State women’s soccer has already shown through its first two matches of 2026 that it can win with offense, defend under pressure, and compete with nationally ranked opposition.

Now, the Aztecs have an opportunity to turn those early flashes into momentum.

San Diego State (1-1) hosts Portland State (0-3) Sunday at 3 p.m. at the SDSU Sports Deck, as the Aztecs look to bounce back from a narrow loss to No. 10 Washington and secure their second victory of the young season.

The matchup will be streamed on the Pac-12 YouTube page, while early-arriving fans will receive a complimentary SDSU license plate frame. Admission to the Sports Deck is free.

For San Diego State, Sunday's match offers an opportunity to build on an encouraging opening stretch in which the Aztecs have demonstrated an ability to create scoring chances while limiting opponents defensively.

Bearing Witness: Michigan Student-Athletes Carry Lessons of Holocaust Remembrance Beyond Athletics

Wolverines join USC Shoah Foundation leadership program, visiting Washington and Auschwitz-Birkenau on a journey that challenged them to use the platform of college athletics to confront hate, antisemitism, and injustice.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. | For Michigan gymnast Sophie Parenti, the enormity of Auschwitz-Birkenau was difficult to comprehend in statistics alone.

So she started counting her steps.

Over roughly five hours at the former Nazi concentration and extermination camp in Poland, Parenti estimated she took approximately 10,000. In her mind, she began imagining each step as representing one person whose life had been taken.

"And that's just 10,000 people," Parenti said.

The exercise could not capture the full scale of the Holocaust, but it gave the University of Michigan student-athlete a deeply personal way to confront a history that suddenly was no longer confined to textbooks, documentaries or museum exhibits.

"You get there, and you feel the weight," Parenti said. "We step off the bus, and you feel the weight of that place immediately."

For Parenti and fellow Wolverines Jahzara Ranger and Penelopea Gordon, that weight became part of a larger lesson about leadership, responsibility, and what it means to have a platform in college athletics.

Michigan participated for the first time in the USC Shoah Foundation Student-Athlete Global Leadership Program, joining student-athletes from USC and UCLA for an immersive experience in Washington, D.C., and Krakow, Poland.

The journey centered on Holocaust education and confronting antisemitism and hate. But for the Michigan contingent, it also raised a distinctly modern question for college athletes:

What responsibility comes with having a voice?