Whistleblowing and Female Power

Military whistleblowing is one of the most difficult ways to expose wrongdoing and inform the public of unknown facts that need to be revealed. It is an act based on ethics, honesty and accountability that stands up to abuse, oppression and exploitation. Whistleblowers are people who want to change systems for the better, but who often face retaliation and persecution. Inspired by the courageous acts of female military whistleblowers and truth-tellers in bringing war crimes, misconduct and social injustice to public attention, Tatiana Bazzichelli’s presentation will focus on the importance of building networks of trust in the context of national security whistleblowing. She will discuss the impact of the work of Chelsea Manning, Lisa Ling and Reality Winner (among others) and relate it to the effects of truth-telling in an often male-dominated field such as the military. Their stories will be linked to other powerful activities in the field of warfare developed by women in the arts, media and journalism who are working to denounce war crimes.

The talk will take place on March 5th, at 6:30pm,  at 6:30pm,  in the Aula Magna Regina (Guarini Campus) John Cabot University, Via della Lungara 233, as part of the Spring 2025 edition of the event series Digital Delights & Disturbances (DDD).

The DDD Event Series is organized and sponsored by the JCU Department of Communication and Media Studies, in collaboration with NERO and CRiTT (Centro Culture Transnazionali). 

You can RSPV here. More info at [email protected]. 

What does female power have to do with military whistleblowing?

Tatiana Bazzichelli: Whistleblowing is about exposing systems of power and injustice, an activity many women’s struggles have focused on. Women have often faced challenges in striving for equal pay and combating the dominant patriarchal environment, working hard to break free from the “brothers club.” While whistleblowers have historically been mostly men, women have made huge efforts to contribute to the field of national security or information technology, though their success has often been limited. Women frequently lack access to key data and are underrepresented in executive roles. In many parts of the world, women continue to face oppression, and it is rare to see women taking on leadership roles in fields like the military, which is often seen as more masculine. A prevailing belief that men are inherently stronger continues to persist. However, in the past few years, many female whistleblowers or females working in the field of whistleblowing have emerged. My talk at the John Cabot University in Rome will focus on them. 

How does whistleblowing work and what are the consequences for whistleblowers?

Whistleblowers are people who have risked everything in their lives to expose the truth and inform the public about corporate, government and military wrongdoing on a national and global scale. There are many types of whistleblowers, from those in the ordinary work environment who want to expose malpractice, wrongdoing or corruption, to those working within high-security systems such as the FBI, CIA, National Security Agency, US Air Force, to name but a few recent cases. In many social and cultural contexts, whistleblowing is still targeted as a form of treason and stigmatised as something to be deplored. As a result, whistleblowers are persecuted, ignored, isolated and subjected to harsh measures, such as being charged under the draconian Espionage Act—which has been used many times in the recent past to punish and incriminate many whistleblowers. The idea of revealing information of public interest from within is not always viewed positively. On the other hand, whistleblowers can be hailed as heroes, and even this sometimes becomes a problem because it distances them from the perception that they are normal people who live, act and suffer like the rest of us. As a result, fewer people are inclined to support them or feel close to them, and whistleblowers are swallowed up by the media system and then forgotten once their actions are no longer newsworthy.

What kind of female power are you talking about? Who are these females?

Sometimes personal stories are crucial to highlight the importance of acts of courage, especially in the field of military whistleblowing. They can be seen as forms of “female power” in a very male-dominated context. For example, the story of NSA contractor and whistleblower Reality Winner, well portrayed in Sonia Kennebeck’s film Reality Winner. Sonia Kennebeck has worked with many female whistleblowers, as we see in the film National Bird, which focuses on the US drone programme through the personal perspectives of whistleblowers and survivors of drone strikes in Afghanistan. Watching the film, I learned about Heather Linebaugh, a former drone imagery analyst, and Lisa Ling, a former technical sergeant in the US Air Force’s drone surveillance programme. Of course, we all know the story of Chelsea Manning, the US Army intelligence analyst who leaked hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks, exposing war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. I would also like to mention the work of Laura Poitras, who, while not a whistleblower, has managed to direct very relevant films in the field of national security, such as her 2014 Oscar-winning documentary Citizenfour about the story of Edward Snowden and his exposure of NSA mass surveillance. All of them became very important sources of inspiration in my life. Their work deeply influenced my knowledge of whistleblowing.

Why is it important to build “networks of trust in the context of national security whistleblowing”?

The network of peers is really important for whistleblowers, especially after blowing the whistle, when the media attention is gone and whistleblowers are isolated and still facing retaliation. In my work as director of the Disruption Network Lab and the recently launched Disruption Network Institute, which focuses on AI and warfare, I build contexts of dialogue and action where whistleblowers come together with artists, activists, human rights defenders, investigative journalists, researchers and technology experts to share their knowledge and fight for a better world. Together we create cross-disciplinary collaborations to broaden understanding of economic, political and technological injustice and make these systems transparent. Our 2023-2024 group of Research Fellows, which includes two whistleblowers, Lisa Ling and Jack Poulson, together with artist Joana Moll and whistleblower advocate Naomi Colvin, have produced analyses that contribute to the debate on the use of autonomous weapons and AI following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the war in Gaza. We have built a trusted network of corporate and government whistleblowers who connect with artists, activists and civil society at large.

How is consumer technology embedded with technologies of warfare in present times? 

Artificial intelligence is actively reshaping the way conflicts are managed and human rights abuses are documented. We have seen the United States and the United Kingdom advance the development of autonomous weapons, and Israel deploy AI targeting systems in Gaza. Wars are increasingly being used as testing grounds for new lethal autonomous weapons, advanced detection systems, biometric surveillance and AI-driven targeting programmes. At the same time, tools such as cameras, drones and motion sensors are being used to expand AI-based surveillance and data collection, particularly in areas such as migration management, asylum procedures and border control. All this means that some of the technologies that surround us are increasingly being weaponised. Joana Moll’s project The User and the Beast is a good illustration of this process, and her paper Cookies at War: A Somatic Approach to The Kill Cloud analyses the role of ad tech in blurring the boundaries between the military and civilian sectors.

How can we bear witness and denounce war crimes in this very specific moment in time?

The production of datasets and AI systems is heavily influenced by issues of power asymmetries and is developed by those with power in order to generate more power. To better understand the complexities of AI data work, at the Disruption Network Institute we expose the role of data capitalism, technological warfare and surveillance technologies that reflect a vision of the world based on the exploitation of the vulnerable and operate at the expense of minorities. To expose these issues, we work closely with military, corporate and national security whistleblowers and develop an independent research programme unfettered by power. We explore the future of technology and the risks it poses, as well as the ethical implications of AI, machine learning and algorithms in developing tactics of control, data tracking and surveillance, both in civil society and in the context of war. We work with public and open source information and unclassified material, with the aim of sharing this knowledge with a wider audience. 

How can art be a communal networked process that pushes back against dominant structures?

I have been working with the concept of “art as evidence” for more than a decade, and began using this definition in 2014 when I organised a keynote on the subject with Laura Poitras. Artistic practices in this framework can reveal hidden facts, expose misconduct and wrongdoing, and raise awareness about social, political and technological issues that need to be made public. Art, like whistleblowing, becomes a means of raising awareness about sensitive issues, generating in-depth analysis within the framework of social and political action. This also happens thanks to the intervention of different points of view and people coming together to reflect on possible counter-measures from artistic, technological and political frameworks. The art of networking is a practice that is very close to my heart and that has inspired my own work since the mid-1990s. It is even more necessary today, because to confront an omnipresent power we need the actions of many. Especially those who are specifically affected by power. This is where the concept of “female power” comes from, having the courage to speak the truth, and fighting for more common justice.