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Here is their possible argument for what it is worth.

All persons born in the United States, except those not subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S. government (such as children of foreign diplomats) are citizens by birth under the Fourteenth Amendment. There is some debate over whether other persons with citizenship can also be considered citizens by birth, or whether they should all be considered to be “naturalized”. Current US statutes define certain individuals born overseas as “citizens at birth,” as opposed to citizens by birth.[4] One side of the argument interprets the Constitution as meaning that a person either is born in the United States or is a naturalized citizen. According to this view, in order to be a “natural born citizen,” a person must be born in the United States; otherwise, he is a citizen “by law” and is therefore “naturalized.”[5] Current State Department policy reads: “Despite widespread popular belief, U.S. military installations abroad and U.S. diplomatic or consular facilities are not part of the United States within the meaning of the 14th Amendment. A child born on the premises of such a facility is not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and does not acquire U.S. citizenship by reason of birth.”

Yes this is true, My brother can not run for president. Even though he is the smartest of my clan. He was born in Cyprus to American parents serving in the state department at the time.

I also have a friend who was born on a military base overseas to american parents in the 60s and when they came back they didn’t file the right papers, thinking that being US citizens and born on a base she was a citizen. She found out, two years ago when she went to get her first passport that she was NOT a citizen, even though she had lived in this country since 2 and was married to a natural born citizen and born to american parents, she voted in the past and has a social security number. They almost deported her and now she has a green card and had to accept British citizenship. She is so disgusted with the crap our gov gave her, she no longer wants it. You need to be born in the US to run for president. But maybe we can amend it so Arnold can run after all.

A child born on the premises of such a facility is not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and does not acquire U.S. citizenship by reason of birth.”

I imagine the intent of this policy is to make it clear that children born to non US citizens on U.S. military installations abroad and U.S. diplomatic or consular facilities do not acquire U.S. citizenship by reason of birth.

I just looked it up because of curiosity in knowing that the current King of Thailand was born in the USA. Because his parents were here and were part of the royal family, they did not fall under the jurisdiction of the US government, thus, the King of Thailand is not a USA citizen even though he was born here.

Someone should mention to the NYT that the King of Thailand could run for USA presidency. If they can get one thing wrong without bothering to check, I would imagine they would gladly run a story about a foriegn monarch being eligible to run for US President. Plus, there is the whole other thing about residing for a certain amount of time in the USA to be eligible to be President.

My son was born overseas on a US Military Base. When we applied for his birth certificate and citizenship paperwork, we asked this very question. They explained to us that he has dual citizenship, could be anything he wanted to be, do anything he wanted to do as an American Citzien EXCEPT be POTUS. The Military Base did NOT qualify as American soil.