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.
You sound like you'd be the kind of congressman who'd go along with the government's misbehavior as a general matter -- were the killings of Renee Good, Alex Pretti and Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis and others by masked ICE agents all "miscommunications" too? The country needs leaders who will hold this authoritarian administration accountable, or at least ask questions, not immediately default with weak sauce excuses about "miscommunication."
Jerry. Come on. Those people were driving vehicles into armed federal agents.
That’s called attempted murder with a deadly weapon. And while we’re at it, let me recount that Saint Obama deported 10 million illegal aliens with nary a cry of foul. The Media, which you are important part of, has caused hysterical reactions from segments of the population that are prone to hysterics. And that, more than anything is the main reason for injuries and even deaths in the current deportation process.
This also wasn't directed federal agents in neighborhood streets. It was people guarding our national defense assets at a base. There are armed guards at a base. Not everyone has access, and its their duty to prevent unauthorized access. If you are going to a base, you should expect to see armed guards and heavy security there to prevent access. No one is "entitled" to it.
Comparing that to the ICE agent issues in neighborhood streets is comparing and apple and an alligator.
The military is also comprised of people from our civilian population. Therefore, half the people at that gate trying to do their job of preventing access probably agree with you politically on the other issue, so you shouldn't paint them under some broad brush of the administrations "agents." They are 20 year olds standing an armed watch. They make mistakes. No one was hurt. Learn from it and fix the issue...
The one other caveat here since we are reporting before an investigation is that the guards may have done their job 100% correctly and the people trying to gain access did not follow the proper procedures.
Bob - as I told you when we met for coffee, I think you would make a fine political candidate if we were living in the world of 2015 which. alas we are not. There are two dynamics in our politics today - are you pro-democracy, or are you pro-fascism. Your attempts to wooly head your way through some third way policy channels may be admirable, but it's irrelevant to the world we are living in today. Don't you think the behavior of the Dear Leader and the drunken weekend Fox News host he shamefully installed to lead our military resonates down the chain of command? With all the repulsive firings and denial of promotions for officers for women and people of color, the attempt to shame the sailors on the Lincoln, the lies about the quagmire into which they've led us in Iran - not to mention the pardoning and rewarding of the Jan. 6 insurrectionists - there's a clear message being sent from the top about who gets rewarded and who gets punished based on which political team they're on. If you think that hasn't permeated to Vandenberg I'm afraid you're even more naive than I already thought.
This Smith and Roberts debate makes me curious which of you presents the narrative more relevant to this incident.
Myself - and likely many other relatively fair minded, low-partisanship citizens (I am a political independent with skepticism of all political factions) - may feel that Roberts' overarching concerns are valid and important, but may prove to be largely unrelated to this incident.
Hopefully we get more facts soon to clarify. And also make better progress on Jerry Roberts' big picture concerns.
That's an extraordinary number of political grievances to stack onto a fairly straightforward question about what happened at Vandenberg.
We can debate Trump, Hegseth, Iran, January 6 and military personnel policy separately. None of that provides evidence that Security Forces at Vandenberg acted against these individuals because they were reporters or because of their politics.
In fact, two military members were detained right alongside the reporters. The information available so far points to a breakdown between Public Affairs, gate personnel and Security Forces, not political retaliation against the press.
The base is managed by a Colonel. O-6 level. These ranks are not political appointees. His command is comprised of people serving the country from every political party and walk of life. The 3 star and above level are political appointees.
The base runs on a Operations and Regulations Manual. Gate Security is under a Force Protection Condition (FPCON) with a set of pre-planned responses. Those response haven't changed with an administration. If a vehicle goes through an ECP unauthorized, the barriers go up and weapons are drawn at every U.S. installation on Earth, no matter who the President is. I'm literally a subject matter expert in this area called "Force Protection."
So while your argument could hold at the higher levels. I've publicly stated I was not a fan of dismissing 4 Star Admiral Lisa Franchetti (CNO) under a DEI claim - I know her and had the utmost respect for her career, as did everyone I know. That said, every administration dismisses and appoints political appointees at their discretion. But this argument is absolute nonsense at a base gate and the enlisted members on watch.
The fallacy of your argument -- and of the entire rationale for your candidacy -- is that these are issues to be considered "separately." They are not, they are deeply interconnected and interrelated, and your default engineer's attempt to examine and analyze them individually is, while poignant, not sufficient for these times.
Or it could be that attaching all grievances to the administration creates “heat” here in the zeitgeist. It’s better for clicks and attention. And Bob may be right that junior enlisted people had a miscommunication at a gate and followed a pre-planned procedure.
Sometimes the simplest explanation that has decades of similar instances is the correct assumption…
Jerry, you are better than this. No one in the government leadership called the 20 year old gate guards and told them to attack reporters. They clearly had a miscommunication at their gate, and responded with their pre-planned responses in real time. Anyone that has served understands this.
Stop making everything some giant conspiracy.
I clearly stated the base should do an after action report and understand where the breakdown occurred, and fix it.
But here’s a news flash for you. Miscommunications at ECPs have happened since they existed, under every president, every year, at every ECP. And during the past 20 years we have 20 year olds that are no longer with us for standing guard at ECPs.
Please don’t question my leadership and integrity, it’s been demonstrated for decades. Integrity that’s in question here is “journalism” trying to compete for attention with X garbage.
Jerry. Come on. Those people in the ICE situations were driving vehicles into armed federal agents.
What those ‘protestors’ did called attempted murder with a deadly weapon. And while we’re at it, let me recount that Saint Obama deported 10 million illegal aliens with nary a cry of foul.
The Media, which you are important part of, has pushed for hysterical reactions from segments of the population that are prone to hysterics. And that, more than anything is the main reason for injuries and even deaths in the current deportation process
Hey Jerry, if you’re so worried about ice, why don’t you ask Mr. Carbajal to ask his people to push forward the rapist and murderers that Isis looking for so they don’t have to go into the whole community and try to find them and also tell the sheriff to hand them over when they’ve got the bad ones
Thomas - they got this thing called "the internet" now. Try clicking the embedded link in Nora's piece to the original first person eyewitness story by Janene Scully. Next you'll be telling me they faked the moon landing. Oh wait...
While I understand the situation may have been frightening, you took it way too personally. What a bad example you set for the younger journalists involved. The rest of us are glad that vandenburg takes security seriously, even if they do make some rare mistakes, and then apologize.
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.
You sound like you'd be the kind of congressman who'd go along with the government's misbehavior as a general matter -- were the killings of Renee Good, Alex Pretti and Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis and others by masked ICE agents all "miscommunications" too? The country needs leaders who will hold this authoritarian administration accountable, or at least ask questions, not immediately default with weak sauce excuses about "miscommunication."
Jerry. Come on. Those people were driving vehicles into armed federal agents.
That’s called attempted murder with a deadly weapon. And while we’re at it, let me recount that Saint Obama deported 10 million illegal aliens with nary a cry of foul. The Media, which you are important part of, has caused hysterical reactions from segments of the population that are prone to hysterics. And that, more than anything is the main reason for injuries and even deaths in the current deportation process.
Thomas- time to do a pull-the-plug reboot...you're caught in a Fox News OAN word salad feedback loop again...
This also wasn't directed federal agents in neighborhood streets. It was people guarding our national defense assets at a base. There are armed guards at a base. Not everyone has access, and its their duty to prevent unauthorized access. If you are going to a base, you should expect to see armed guards and heavy security there to prevent access. No one is "entitled" to it.
Comparing that to the ICE agent issues in neighborhood streets is comparing and apple and an alligator.
The military is also comprised of people from our civilian population. Therefore, half the people at that gate trying to do their job of preventing access probably agree with you politically on the other issue, so you shouldn't paint them under some broad brush of the administrations "agents." They are 20 year olds standing an armed watch. They make mistakes. No one was hurt. Learn from it and fix the issue...
The one other caveat here since we are reporting before an investigation is that the guards may have done their job 100% correctly and the people trying to gain access did not follow the proper procedures.
Bob - as I told you when we met for coffee, I think you would make a fine political candidate if we were living in the world of 2015 which. alas we are not. There are two dynamics in our politics today - are you pro-democracy, or are you pro-fascism. Your attempts to wooly head your way through some third way policy channels may be admirable, but it's irrelevant to the world we are living in today. Don't you think the behavior of the Dear Leader and the drunken weekend Fox News host he shamefully installed to lead our military resonates down the chain of command? With all the repulsive firings and denial of promotions for officers for women and people of color, the attempt to shame the sailors on the Lincoln, the lies about the quagmire into which they've led us in Iran - not to mention the pardoning and rewarding of the Jan. 6 insurrectionists - there's a clear message being sent from the top about who gets rewarded and who gets punished based on which political team they're on. If you think that hasn't permeated to Vandenberg I'm afraid you're even more naive than I already thought.
This Smith and Roberts debate makes me curious which of you presents the narrative more relevant to this incident.
Myself - and likely many other relatively fair minded, low-partisanship citizens (I am a political independent with skepticism of all political factions) - may feel that Roberts' overarching concerns are valid and important, but may prove to be largely unrelated to this incident.
Hopefully we get more facts soon to clarify. And also make better progress on Jerry Roberts' big picture concerns.
That's an extraordinary number of political grievances to stack onto a fairly straightforward question about what happened at Vandenberg.
We can debate Trump, Hegseth, Iran, January 6 and military personnel policy separately. None of that provides evidence that Security Forces at Vandenberg acted against these individuals because they were reporters or because of their politics.
In fact, two military members were detained right alongside the reporters. The information available so far points to a breakdown between Public Affairs, gate personnel and Security Forces, not political retaliation against the press.
The base is managed by a Colonel. O-6 level. These ranks are not political appointees. His command is comprised of people serving the country from every political party and walk of life. The 3 star and above level are political appointees.
The base runs on a Operations and Regulations Manual. Gate Security is under a Force Protection Condition (FPCON) with a set of pre-planned responses. Those response haven't changed with an administration. If a vehicle goes through an ECP unauthorized, the barriers go up and weapons are drawn at every U.S. installation on Earth, no matter who the President is. I'm literally a subject matter expert in this area called "Force Protection."
So while your argument could hold at the higher levels. I've publicly stated I was not a fan of dismissing 4 Star Admiral Lisa Franchetti (CNO) under a DEI claim - I know her and had the utmost respect for her career, as did everyone I know. That said, every administration dismisses and appoints political appointees at their discretion. But this argument is absolute nonsense at a base gate and the enlisted members on watch.
The fallacy of your argument -- and of the entire rationale for your candidacy -- is that these are issues to be considered "separately." They are not, they are deeply interconnected and interrelated, and your default engineer's attempt to examine and analyze them individually is, while poignant, not sufficient for these times.
Or it could be that attaching all grievances to the administration creates “heat” here in the zeitgeist. It’s better for clicks and attention. And Bob may be right that junior enlisted people had a miscommunication at a gate and followed a pre-planned procedure.
Sometimes the simplest explanation that has decades of similar instances is the correct assumption…
Jerry, you are better than this. No one in the government leadership called the 20 year old gate guards and told them to attack reporters. They clearly had a miscommunication at their gate, and responded with their pre-planned responses in real time. Anyone that has served understands this.
Stop making everything some giant conspiracy.
I clearly stated the base should do an after action report and understand where the breakdown occurred, and fix it.
But here’s a news flash for you. Miscommunications at ECPs have happened since they existed, under every president, every year, at every ECP. And during the past 20 years we have 20 year olds that are no longer with us for standing guard at ECPs.
Please don’t question my leadership and integrity, it’s been demonstrated for decades. Integrity that’s in question here is “journalism” trying to compete for attention with X garbage.
Jerry. Come on. Those people in the ICE situations were driving vehicles into armed federal agents.
What those ‘protestors’ did called attempted murder with a deadly weapon. And while we’re at it, let me recount that Saint Obama deported 10 million illegal aliens with nary a cry of foul.
The Media, which you are important part of, has pushed for hysterical reactions from segments of the population that are prone to hysterics. And that, more than anything is the main reason for injuries and even deaths in the current deportation process
Hey Jerry, if you’re so worried about ice, why don’t you ask Mr. Carbajal to ask his people to push forward the rapist and murderers that Isis looking for so they don’t have to go into the whole community and try to find them and also tell the sheriff to hand them over when they’ve got the bad ones
"Isis"? Mike did you wander into the wrong forum? you mean rapists and murderers like this? https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/16/us/trump-immigration-crackdown.html?unlocked_article_code=1.61A.iYcc.pXDe49BjtqZ5&smid=url-share
Before making such a dramatic claim - This article needs photographs and other ‘proofs of the claimed event.
Because at this point, the article is only salacious hearsay and even libel upon the military at Vandenberg.
Thomas - they got this thing called "the internet" now. Try clicking the embedded link in Nora's piece to the original first person eyewitness story by Janene Scully. Next you'll be telling me they faked the moon landing. Oh wait...
While I understand the situation may have been frightening, you took it way too personally. What a bad example you set for the younger journalists involved. The rest of us are glad that vandenburg takes security seriously, even if they do make some rare mistakes, and then apologize.