Tatiana Bazzichelli (ed), Whistle-blowing for Change: Exposing Systems of Power and Injustice

Abstract

The book under review contains six sections, each with four or five chapters, covering issues of surveillance, control, and the art of whistle-blowing. In this review, I will focus on how the book’s argument, as exemplified in selected chapters, shifts the debate on US drone strikes and targeted killings, in order to recommend the book to the attention of the law, conflict, security and human rights community. The first section sets the tone by discussing ‘Whistleblowing: The Impact of Speaking Out’. British and American whistle-blowers in this section tell their experience of revealing national security secrets for the sake of public interest. The chapter “The Art of War, the Moral Law and the Art of Whistleblowing” authored by Brandon Bryant is of particular relevance to legal and security debates around drone targeting. Bryant is the first-ever US drone pilot whistle-blower and hence the inclusion of this chapter is a special feat, as it provides a practitioner voice challenging American targeted killing from within. Bryant skilfully takes us through a personal journey of war, ethics and morality. I personally spent some time with him in Berlin in March 2022 and discussed his chapter at length. I realized the enormous altruism he displayed by turning to whistle-blowing, after his very personal near-death experience and spiritual awakening that triggered him to speak out. Bryant went on to set the tone for many other US veterans who followed his path in drone whistle-blowing—some publicly known and others still hidden—and thus his voice is indispensable and shows why whistle-blowing is vital for transparency.