On Saturday, February 25, 2012, at approximately 12:45 AM,  four VFP members, including Daniel Ellsberg, Fr. Louie Vitale, John Amidon and Mark Kelso, VFP's newest member along with 11 others including Cindy Sheehan and Code Pink's Toby Blome crossed the lined to protest the launch of a first-strike, Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) at Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc, CA. David Krieger, president of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation along with his wife Carolee were both arrested also in their first civil resistance. Despite our best efforts the missile was launched at 2:46 AM traveling  to the Marshall Islands roughly 4000 miles away. 

Testing of the Minuteman III at the minimum cost of 21 million dollars per launch,  normally 3 times a year, is an egregious and criminal use of taxpayer money which endangers the security of the United States.  First strike weapons have  virtually no chance of eliminating a second strike missiles, insuring retaliation. With the explosion of 300 nuclear weapons the world's ecological systems would be so severely damaged the results would yield a state of nuclear famine, formerly termed nuclear winter. The amount of dust blown into the atmosphere  would reduce sunlight by 70 percent for 10 years, eliminating our ability to grow food. It is hoped our civil resistance will  help the public and our government become fully aware  of the illegality, immorality and stupidity of maintaining  what can best be described as an expanding nuclear "bombplex".  The American Doomsday machine must be dismantled if we are to survive. Stayed tuned, next stop is court in Santa Barbara.