first_published_at,last_published_at,title,slug,latest_revision_created_at,charges,legal_orders,updates,categories,links,equipment_seized,equipment_broken,targeted_journalists,authors,date,exact_date_unknown,city,state,latitude,longitude,body,introduction,teaser,teaser_image,primary_video,image_caption,arrest_status,arresting_authority,release_date,detention_date,unnecessary_use_of_force,case_number,case_statuses,case_type,status_of_seized_equipment,is_search_warrant_obtained,actor,border_point,target_us_citizenship_status,denial_of_entry,stopped_previously,did_authorities_ask_for_device_access,did_authorities_ask_about_work,assailant,was_journalist_targeted,charged_under_espionage_act,subpoena_type,subpoena_statuses,name_of_business,third_party_business,legal_order_target,legal_order_type,legal_order_venue,status_of_prior_restraint,mistakenly_released_materials,type_of_denial,targeted_institutions,tags,target_nationality,workers_whose_communications_were_obtained,politicians_or_public_figures_involved 2019-10-09 14:52:35.106536+00:00,2024-01-24 22:04:36.148549+00:00,CBP officer withholds journalist’s passport until he agrees to say he writes 'propaganda',https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cbp-officer-withholds-journalists-passport-until-he-agrees-to-say-he-writes-propaganda/,2024-01-24 22:04:35.957892+00:00,,,,Border Stop,,,,Ben Watson (Defense One),,2019-10-03,False,Dulles,Virginia (VA),None,None,"
Ben Watson, a news editor for Defense One, was harassed by a U.S. immigration official when arriving at Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 3, 2019. At passport control, a Customs and Border Protection officer asked Watson four times, “You write propaganda, right?” The officer withheld Watson’s passport until he gave an affirmative answer.
Watson told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that things seemed normal as he passed through permanent resident reentry aisle No. 17 at around 4 p.m., though he noticed the CBP officer on duty was taking twice as long as normal with each customs interview.
In an account of the incident for Defense One, Watson wrote that after he answered a few standard questions about undeclared goods, the interaction took an unusual and unsettling turn.
After telling the officer that he is a journalist, the officer asked, “So you write propaganda, right?”
Watson told the Tracker that at first he wasn’t sure the officer was serious. “When I saw this smirk on his face and with the way he was looking at me, I realized this was not a joke.”
Watson responded no, that he was a journalist and that in his work covering national security he uses many of the same skills he used as a U.S. Army public affairs officer. “Some would argue, that’s propaganda,” Watson recalled saying.
The CBP officer persisted, asking a second time whether Watson is a journalist and asking again, “You write propaganda, right?”
Watson wrote that he paused briefly and then said, “For the purposes of expediting this conversation, yes.” Before returning his passport, the officer made Watson repeat for a second time that he, as a journalist, wrote propaganda.
Watson told the Tracker that he gave in when he thought about how long he could be delayed if he called for the officer’s supervisor and filed a complaint in person. He said, however, that he has since filed a civil rights complaint with the Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.
In a statement to Defense One, a DHS spokesperson said the CRCL office has received Watson’s complaint and is reviewing it. A spokesperson for CBP also provided an emailed statement to Defense One, stating that the agency is aware of and is investigating the reports of an officer’s alleged inappropriate conduct.
Watson tweeted after the incident, “I’ve honestly never had a human attempt to provoke me like this before in my life.”
What I told my colleagues shortly afterward:
— Ben Watson (@natsecwatson) October 4, 2019
"I've honestly never had a human attempt to provoke me like this before in my life.
This behavior is totally normal now, I guess?" https://t.co/9qV5xRWVMr
Walter Shaub, an attorney who served as director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics until 2017, tweeted that the incident should go to the DHS inspector general for review.
“A customs agent withholding the passport of a journalist until he agrees to say he writes ‘propaganda’ is actionable misconduct, even in Trump’s America,” Shaub wrote.
Watson’s is the latest incident of politicized remarks by CBP agents aimed at journalists that the Tracker has documented in our border stop category. Other recent cases include a journalist being asked if he was part of the “fake news media,” two journalists being told to “fall in line” with the president’s agenda, and aggressive questioning to a reporter about his outlet’s political articles.
International passengers arrive at Washington Dulles International Airport after clearing immigration and customs in Dulles, Virginia in this 2017 file photo.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,Dulles International Airport,U.S. citizen,False,False,no,yes,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],,,United States,, 2021-04-22 20:17:40.753596+00:00,2023-12-21 17:13:59.051768+00:00,Defense One reporters left out of media briefing with Deputy Secretary of Defense in apparent retaliation for reporting,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/defense-one-reporters-left-out-of-media-briefing-with-deputy-secretary-of-defense-in-apparent-retaliation-for-reporting/,2023-12-21 17:13:58.963242+00:00,,,,Denial of Access,,,,,,2018-08-09,False,Washington,District of Columbia (DC),38.89511,-77.03637,"Reporters from Defense One, a news site that covers global and U.S. national security issues, were not invited to a 2018 media roundtable with the deputy secretary of defense about the launch of the proposed Space Force military project in apparent retaliation for the outlet’s previous reporting.
According to an article published by Politico, the outlet was deliberately left out of the Aug. 9 event after Defense One reporter Marcus Weisgerber published an exclusive story divulging the plans to set up President Donald Trump’s Space Force, even though it had not yet been authorized by Congress.
Weisgerber could not be reached for comment.
Weisgerber’s July 31 story revealed the contents of a draft report prepared by Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick M. Shanahan for lawmakers. The report was not due for presentation until a week after the Defense One story, which noted that “Defense Department leaders plan to stand up three of the four components of the new Space Force: a new combatant command for space, a new joint agency to buy satellites for the military, and a new warfighting community that draws space operators from all service branches.”
According to the story those three components did not require congressional approval, but defense officials planned to draft a legislative proposal to create the fourth component — an entirely new branch of the military — which would require authorization from Congress.
Kevin Baron, executive editor of Defense One, confirmed to Politico that none of the reporters from his team were invited to the media briefing. Baron said that Department of Defense spokesperson Dana White conceded to him in an email that the reason was the publication by Defense One of its story disclosing the roll out plans for Space Force.
“It seems Defense One was deliberately left out of a briefing in retaliation for our reporting,” Baron said. He added that White said she was unaware of the incident and assured him that the outlet would be included in future press meetings.
When reached for comment, Baron confirmed the information in the Politico article to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
In a statement to Politico, Pentagon spokesperson Charles Summers said, “We are guided by the principles of information and committed to ensuring the accessibility of timely and accurate information to the media, the Congress and the American people.” Summers later added, “There is no retaliation and the notion that someone doesn’t have access or someone is shut out, that’s absolutely not accurate.”