By Nora Wallace
On Monday, security police held five news reporters at gunpoint at Vandenberg Space Force Base, a violation of the spirit of the Constitution’s guarantee of freedom of the press.
I am absolutely incensed by this shameful spectacle, and it should outrage every citizen of Santa Barbara County who cares or is concerned by, the erosion of our sacred rights.
For 25 years as a Santa Barbara County reporter, Vandenberg was one of my primary beats. I drove through those gates countless times to cover launches, missile tests, ceremonies, accidents, wildfires, personnel changes and stories of national significance. I worked with Vandenberg Public Affairs and alongside several of the reporters and news organizations involved in what happened today.
According to an account by veteran Noozhawk reporter Janene Scully, journalists who had been invited to Vandenberg to cover a ceremony were traveling in a convoy behind a government vehicle carrying uniformed Public Affairs personnel.
They had identification. They had an escort. They were there because the military had asked them to be there.
Yet they ended up being held at gunpoint by military Security Police. When Janene called later and filled me in on what happened, I had to ask if she was joking. She absolutely was not.
Journalists are not the enemy. I understand perhaps better than most civilians that Vandenberg is not just another workplace. It is a classified military installation with extraordinarily important national security responsibilities. And given the state of the world right now, I absolutely understand the need for heightened vigilance and security.
But heightened security cannot become an excuse for a breakdown this serious.
Local journalists are not the enemy. They are professionals doing an increasingly difficult job --often with fewer people and fewer resources than ever -- because communities still deserve to know what is happening in the places where they live. Their work matters.
Reporters writing stories about or at Vandenberg routinely follow strict procedures to gain access and cover events. In the decades that I covered Vandenberg, no reporter that I know of ever disobeyed the rules to gain unauthorized access onto the restricted base.
The fact that young reporters at the beginning of their careers, veteran journalists and even military personnel could find themselves facing firearms while participating in an invited, escorted media event should concern every one of us.
It is an insult to the important role local media plays in our community.
A need for accountability. I hope there is a serious internal examination of how this happened, accountability for the breakdowns that allowed it to happen and assurances from base leadership that the journalists involved receive more than a shrug and an explanation that security comes first.
They deserve more than that for doing their jobs and trying to tell the story of Vandenberg’s national security role and its personnel.
And I hope the local media doesn’t just let this one go.
Lompoc resident Nora Wallace worked for 25 years as a reporter for the Santa Barbara News-Press.
Image: The gate at Vandenberg (KSBY).
Nora would make a wonderful podcast guest on this or ANY topic. Maybe just talk about that baseball team up in the bay area for a few hours.
There was clearly a breakdown in communication at Vandenberg’s entry control point, and it should absolutely be reviewed and corrected.
But turning Security Forces responding to what they believed was an unauthorized entry into an “attack on reporters” or an erosion of the First Amendment is an enormous and irresponsible leap.
We are in an active conflict and a heightened threat environment. Vandenberg is one of the most strategically important military installations in the country, and the base has publicly stated that it is experiencing an increased number of unauthorized-entry attempts.
When Security Forces believe a breach has occurred, they should take it seriously.
Find out where the communication failed. Fix the process. Make sure invited media are properly coordinated through the gate next time.
But keep some perspective: this was a security and communications failure, not a constitutional crisis or an attack on freedom of the press.
Send a FOIA request and ask Vandenberg how many people they get per year trying to gain unauthorized entry...it'll be eye opening.