{"id":1012600,"date":"2026-08-20T10:37:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T10:37:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1012600\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T10:37:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T10:37:17","slug":"reporters-held-at-gunpoint-at-vandenberg-space-force-base-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1012600\/","title":{"rendered":"Reporters held at gunpoint at Vandenberg Space Force Base event"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Five reporters showed up to cover a military groundbreaking; instead, they were pulled from their cars at gunpoint.<\/p>\n<p>The journalists arrived at <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/08\/15\/us-news\/spacex-to-launch-falcon-9-rocket-from-vandenberg-base-in-california\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Vandenberg Space Force Base in California<\/a> Monday for a 1:30 p.m. \u201cgolden shovel\u201d ceremony marking the start of construction on a new training facility for missile operators.<\/p>\n<p>They never made it to the event.<\/p>\n<p>A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off carrying the Landsat 9 earth imaging satellite from Vandenberg Space Force Base. AP<\/p>\n<p>Reporters from your News Channel, Noozhawk, KSBY and the Santa Maria Times\/Lompoc Record had been invited to attend and were waiting at the front gate to join the usual media caravan.<\/p>\n<p>The group began following a military escort vehicle onto the base.<\/p>\n<p>Then the welcome wagon turned into a nightmare.<\/p>\n<p>Security officers suddenly stopped the convoy and, with hands raised, ordered the reporters out of their vehicles.<\/p>\n<p>Guns came out. Sirens blared. Barriers slammed into place at the gate.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for the California Morning Report newsletter\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-module__cta\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCalifornia&#8217;s top news, sports and entertainment delivered to your inbox every day.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Two military members traveling with the group \u2014 an enlisted service member and a junior officer \u2014 were handcuffed and hauled away in base vehicles, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.noozhawk.com\/media-military-members-held-at-gunpoint-at-vandenberg-sfb-despite-escort-invitation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">according to Noozhawk<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The civilian reporters were ordered to sit on a curb.<\/p>\n<p>Journalists wait after being stopped by security officers at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Monday, Aug. 17, 2026.  KEYT via AP<\/p>\n<p>The journalists were detained for more than 30 minutes, causing them to miss the event they had been invited to cover.<\/p>\n<p>Everyone was eventually cleared and released without further incident. <\/p>\n<p>Base personnel apologized to News Channel reporter Jarrod Zinn for the mix-up.<\/p>\n<p>Vandenberg officials later blamed a communication breakdown and said the base has been dealing with an increased number of unauthorized entry attempts.<\/p>\n<p>Noozhawk Editor in Chief Tom Bolton said the newsroom understands the military\u2019s need to protect the base. Bill Ingalls\/UPI\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVandenberg Space Force Base is experiencing an Increased number of unauthorized entry attempts. When media entered the installation there was a breakdown in communication and movement continued prior to verification. Every potential unauthorized presence must be treated as a legitimate threat until proven otherwise. While we recognize this may have been unsettling, the security of the base and its personnel is our priority.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Noozhawk Editor in Chief Tom Bolton said the newsroom understands the military\u2019s need to protect the base, but called the episode troubling.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe respect the military\u2019s need to provide security for the base,\u201d Bolton said Wednesday. \u201cBut clearly what occurred was unfortunate and unnecessary, and potentially dangerous, as firearms were drawn.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bolton said he hopes to speak with base leadership later this week about what happened and how to prevent another incident.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Five reporters showed up to cover a military groundbreaking; instead, they were pulled from their cars at gunpoint.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1012601,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[24],"tags":[276,42423,398,5248,159,783,67,132,68,1154],"class_list":["post-1012600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-california","tag-guns","tag-media","tag-metro","tag-science","tag-space","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-us-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1012600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1012600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1012600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1012601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1012600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1012600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1012600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}