Navy limits process for anonymous harassment and discrimination complaints

WASHINGTON — The Navy and Marine Corps are limiting how service members can file anonymous complaints alleging discrimination and harassment to align their policies with Pentagon guidance, according to a service memo.

The services will no longer process such anonymous reports as part of Military Equal Opportunity complaints. Instead, service members are encouraged to use the confidential reporting system. However, the anonymous system remains available.

“This does not prevent a commander from taking appropriate action in response to an anonymous report,” the three-page Navy memo says.

Sailors and Marines can continue to make anonymous reports for allegations of sexual assault, hazing and bullying “pending further guidance,” the message adds.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth introduced the guidelines during a sweeping address to the top military brass in Quantico, Va., in September 2025.

He announced there would be an overhaul of the channels troops and defense personnel have available to them to anonymously file whistleblower complaints, report toxic leadership or point out unequal treatment based on race, gender, sexuality or religion.

The affected reporting channels include those administered by the Defense Department’s inspector general office and the equal employment opportunity office.

“No more frivolous complaints. No more anonymous complaints, no more repeat complaints, no more smearing reputations, no more endless waiting, no more legal limbo, no more sidetracking careers. No more walking on eggshells,” Hegseth said at the time. “Of course, being a racist has been illegal in our formations since 1948. The same goes for sexual harassment. Both are wrong and illegal.”

Hegseth argued months before the speech in an April 2025 video posted on X that the U.S. military’s programs to report discrimination and harassment had been “weaponized” by people who act “in bad faith to retaliate against superiors and peers.”

The Army and Air Force each published new complaint policy changes last month.

According to the Navy message, service members can file confidential reports on discrimination or harassment allegations and receive “appropriate support services.”

Sailors and Marines are not required to file a separate complaint that may require an investigation to receive these services; however, they can convert a confidential report into a formal or informal complaint later should they choose to do so.

“Confidentiality in connection with the confidential report will not be maintained where there is a specific and imminent threat of serious bodily harm or death to an identified or readily identifiable person or persons or where the report reveals an intent to commit future crime or fraud,” the message states.