Families of some of the 100 U.S. service members whose names and addresses appeared on an online Islamic State (ISIS) death list have expressed frustration over the Navy's handling of the situation.
Last weekend, a group identifying itself as the Islamic State Hacking Division posted information on the Internet that included pictures of service personnel along with their names, U.S. home addresses, service branches, and in some cases, their ranks and titles,
the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot reported.
The jihadist hackers said they divulged the information in the hope that "lone wolf" radicals would access the information and kill the military personnel.
While ISIS claimed the information was hacked from military sites, the Defense Department insists that the information came from public records, social media and residential address search sites.
The posting called on "brothers in America" to find the service personnel and "kill them in their own land."
Tensions have risen in the Hampton Roads region of southeastern Virginia, home to 15 of the service personnel on the ISIS hit list.
The wife of one sailor named said affected families are frustrated. They contend that the Navy's public relations arm has been too permissive in allowing information on naval operations to appear on the Internet.
She said the families believe the Navy has not explained how it plans to deal with the risk.
Still, she said, families were heartened that local schools and police were taking unspecified measures to protect them.
On Monday, Navy officials said the Naval Criminal Investigative Service was meeting with all 41 Navy and Marine Corps personnel listed by ISIS.
But the woman told the Virginian-Pilot that many families had simply received brief phone calls.
"They feel the response has been anemic at best," said the woman, who disputes Navy claims that there had been face-to-face contact with the families. She says such questionable assertions on the part of the military "make… everything else they say seem without credibility."
Service officials said earlier this week that they were working with the FBI in an effort to determine the seriousness of threats and consider the need for new security measures.
Navy staff director Vice Adm. S.H. Swift said Thursday that the service would notify troops if the situation changed. He said current rules on releasing information about military operations would stay the same,
Stars and Stripes reported Friday.
"Ongoing intelligence and law enforcement assessments continue to reinforce that sharing information smartly and with due caution remains safe — this includes dealings with vetted U.S. and international media," Swift wrote in an online posting which appeared Thursday.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.