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Special Operator Protection Act of 2026
To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit doxing of special operations personnel, and for other purposes.
Summary
- Makes it unlawful to knowingly make restricted personal information about special operations personnel or their immediate family publicly available with the intent to threaten, intimidate, or incite violence.
- Defines "restricted personal information" to include name in connection with place of employment, visual depictions, personal contact information, biometric data, and other personally identifying information.
- Applies the prohibition to special operations forces members, Department of Defense employees conducting sensitive activities, and federal law enforcement officers assigned to or performing duty with special operations forces.
- Establishes penalties of up to five years imprisonment and/or fines for violations.
- Establishes penalties of any term of years or life imprisonment and/or fines if death or serious bodily injury results from the violation.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Sen. Budd, Ted [R-NC] (R-NC)
1 cosponsor
- Sen. Shaheen, Jeanne [D-NH] (D-NH)
Actions (2)
- Jan 15, 2026 Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. · senate
- Jan 15, 2026 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
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Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
January 15, 2026
Mr. Budd (for himself and Mrs. Shaheen) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit doxing of special operations personnel, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Special Operator Protection Act of 2026”.
SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF SPECIAL OPERATIONS PERSONNEL.
(a) In General.—Chapter 7 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: “Sec. 120. Protection of special operations personnel
“(a) Definitions.—In this section:
“(1) Covered person.—The term ‘covered person’ means—
“(A) a member of the special operations forces;
“(B) an employee of the Department of Defense or a member of the Armed Forces (as defined in section 101(a) of title 10) designated by the Secretary of Defense who conducts or participates in Department of Defense sensitive activities (as defined in section 130g of title 10); or
“(C) a Federal law enforcement officer assigned or attached to, or performing duty with a member of, the special operations forces.
“(2) Crime of violence.—The term ‘crime of violence’ has the meaning given the term in section 16.
“(3) Immediate family.—The term ‘immediate family’ has the meaning given the term in section 115(c).
“(4) Restricted personal information.—The term ‘restricted personal information’ means, with respect to an individual—
“(A) the individual’s name in connection with the individual’s place of employment;
“(B) a visual depiction of the individual’s face or likeness in connection with the individual’s name and place of employment;
“(C) a visual depiction of the individual’s home in connection with the individual’s name and place of employment;
“(D) the date of birth, social security number, home address, home phone number, mobile phone number, personal email, or home fax number of, and identifiable to, the individual; or
“(E) the individual’s biometric data.
“(b) Offense.—It shall be unlawful to knowingly make restricted personal information about a covered person, or a member of the immediate family of that covered person, publicly available—
“(1) with the intent to threaten, intimidate, or incite the commission of a crime of violence against the covered person or a member of the immediate family of the covered person; or
“(2) with the intent and knowledge that the restricted personal information will be used to threaten, intimidate, or facilitate the commission of a crime of violence against that covered person or a member of the immediate family of the covered person.
“(c) Penalties.—Any person who violates subsection (b)—
“(1) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or both; or
“(2) if death or serious bodily injury results from the violation, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both.”.
(b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.—The table of sections for chapter 7 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
“120. Protection of special operations personnel.”. <all>
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