Space Force Base Security Holds Five Invited Reporters and Two Service Members at Gunpoint for Half an Hour

Five journalists and two service members were held at gunpoint on Monday afternoon by Vandenberg Space Force Base security police who apparently believed they were gate runners, despite the group having invitations, identification and a uniformed public affairs escort. The convoy was en route to an invitation-only groundbreaking for a missile-operator training facility. Members of the 30th Security Forces Squadron raised barricades, ordered each vehicle forward with firearms pointed, and directed occupants out with hands raised. The two service members, one enlisted and one a junior officer, were handcuffed and placed in base vehicles; the civilians were told to sit on a curb. The stop lasted more than 30 minutes and the ceremony ended before they arrived.

Armed detention of credentialed journalists who were invited onto a federal installation and escorted by the base's own public affairs staff is a failure of the process that is supposed to make military access to reporters routine.

A Space Launch Delta 30 spokeswoman cited "an increased number of unauthorized entry attempts" and said there was "a breakdown in communication and movement continued prior to verification." One security forces member apologized afterward. Noozhawk editor Tom Bolton said the base owes the journalists apologies.