VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) – Five news reporters and two members of the military who were invited to an event at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California were briefly detained at gunpoint by security officers who thought they were gate crashers, according to local news reports.
The incident happened Monday ahead of an invitation-only groundbreaking for a new training facility for missile operators at the federal airfield near Santa Barbara, California. Reporters from Noozhawk and KEYT were among those detained, and both outlets published articles detailing the detainment.
In a statement Wednesday, a Space Launch Delta 30 Public Affairs spokesperson said base protocols will be reviewed.
“Vandenberg takes both installation security and our responsibility to invited media seriously. The journalists involved were accessing the installation at our invitation, and the installation commander has ordered a full review of the media coordination processes,” the statement said.
The reporters and military members were part of a convoy being escorted onto the base by uniformed public affairs staff in a government minivan when they were suddenly ordered out of their vehicles with their hands up, according to news reports.
Officers pointed guns, sirens were sounded, and barricades went up at the gate entrance, KEYT reported.
The two military members assigned to the base – one enlisted and one a junior officer – were handcuffed and placed in base vehicles, while the civilians were ordered to sit on a curb, Noozhawk reported.
The reporters for outlets also including KSBY-TV and the Santa Maria Times/Lompoc Record were held for more than 30 minutes, causing them to miss the event. All were let go without further incident.
“We respect the military’s need to provide security for the base,” Tom Bolton, Noozhawk’s editor in chief, said in a statement Wednesday. “But clearly what occurred was unfortunate and unnecessary, and potentially dangerous, as firearms were drawn.”
Bolton said he hopes to have a conversation with base leadership later this week to review what happened in the hopes of preventing a similar occurrence in the future.
Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
