Sailors and Marines can no longer use anonymous reports of prohibited discrimination or discriminatory harassment to open a Military Equal Opportunity complaint, making the Department of the Navy the latest military department to implement Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s order to replace anonymous complaints with confidential reporting.
The change took effect immediately under an Aug. 7 Navy message applying to both the Navy and Marine Corps. Commanders may still act on information contained in an anonymous report, but the allegation will no longer be processed as a Military Equal Opportunity, or MEO, complaint.
The policy does not end anonymous reporting for every type of complaint. Sailors and Marines may continue to submit anonymous complaints involving sexual harassment, hazing and bullying while the services await further guidance.
Instead, troops alleging prohibited discrimination or discriminatory harassment will have a confidential reporting option. Unlike an anonymous report, a confidential report requires the service member to provide personally identifying information to an authorized official.
The service will document the allegation and connect the member with appropriate support services without requiring them to file an informal or formal complaint.
A sailor or Marine can later convert that confidential report into an informal or formal complaint. Confidentiality can be broken in limited circumstances, including when there is an imminent threat of serious bodily harm or death or a report reveals an intent to commit a future crime or fraud.
That distinction could matter for troops who want help while limiting how far their identity travels through their command. With an anonymous complaint, the person making the allegation does not identify themselves. Under the confidential system, an authorized official knows who made the report but restricts disclosure of that information.
The Navy and Marine Corps changes follow similar moves elsewhere in the force.
The Department of the Air Force issued guidance July 28 discontinuing MEO processing of anonymous allegations of prohibited discrimination or discriminatory harassment for airmen and guardians. The guidance also established confidential reporting and alternative dispute resolution as another way to handle some complaints.
The Army announced its own planned changes July 31. Once the service publishes its new Army Regulation 600-28, anonymous allegations of prohibited discrimination or discriminatory harassment will no longer be processed as MEO complaints or tracked in the Army’s equal opportunity system.
Army commanders will still be able to act on anonymous information when it contains enough detail to warrant a review or investigation. Anonymous reporting for hazing and bullying will remain because it is required under the fiscal 2022 National Defense Authorization Act. Sexual harassment complaints are also governed separately.
Hegseth formalized the shift in a September 2025 directive ordering the services to replace anonymous MEO reporting with confidential complaints. The directive followed an earlier review he ordered of the military’s equal opportunity complaint process, which he argued allowed unverified or anonymous allegations to stall careers and promotions.
“No more frivolous complaints. No more anonymous complaints,” Hegseth told senior military leaders at Quantico last September.
The Navy’s new policy extends beyond anonymous reporting. It directs the Navy and Marine Corps to offer conflict resolution before an inquiry or investigation when feasible, sets standardized reasons for dismissing formal MEO complaints and warns that false official statements made through complaints may violate Article 107 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Formal complaints can be dismissed when they lack sufficient information to investigate or fall outside MEO policy. They can also be dismissed if filed more than 60 days after the most recent incident, or 120 days for reservists, though the broader Pentagon guidance allows for exceptions in some circumstances.
The Navy and Marine Corps must report their progress implementing the changes by Sept. 30 and every 60 days afterward.
Across most of the Defense Department, troops who want allegations of prohibited discrimination or discriminatory harassment handled through the MEO complaint system will increasingly have to identify themselves to an authorized official, even if that identity is initially kept confidential.
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