War on Whistleblowers, a documentary by Brave New Foundation, premieres this week in Washington, D.C., and New York City. The film explores whistleblowing in concept and practice, and profiles five men in recent years who have suffered great loss to expose wrongdoing and corruption in the American deep state.

The documentary moves at a thoughtful pace, and introduces viewers to the surprisingly profound dilemma that would-be whistleblowers face, and the hard path that follows once the decision is made. The men and women who have exposed fraud, waste, and abuse by government and industry don’t begin their journeys as implacable moral paragons or as known nemeses of the military-industrial complex. Rather, they are regular people who are suddenly faced with impossible decisions. The “right thing” is invariably a direct line to unemployment, industry blacklisting, financial ruin, and increasingly, criminal prosecution under the Espionage Act.

One whistleblower profiled in the film is Thomas Tamm, a former attorney for the Justice Department. After learning of the government’s warrantless wiretapping program, Tamm went up the chain in hopes of convincing someone to put a stop to the blatantly illegal and unconstitutional program. He was eventually told to “just assume what is being done is illegal,” and was instructed to drop the issue. Faced with no other choice, he became a whistleblower to the New York Times.

The professional consequences go without saying, but his recollection of the personal toll was perhaps the most moving moment of the film. Tamm recounted the egregious FBI raid on his home, saying, “18 agents, some of them in body armor, I’m told, had been banging on the front door, and my dog was barking. My wife was still in her bathrobe, and they were yelling at her, ‘Show us your hands!’ and things like that. And then when she opened the door, all 18 came in fairly quickly, all went to pre-assigned spots, and went up and woke my other two kids in bed, told them to get dressed.”

The agents seized documents and electronics, and questioned Tamm’s family about New York Times reporters. The government threatened to prosecute him under the Espionage Act. But after all that, to include the crushing of Tamm’s career and a costly investigation that lasted over four years, no charges were filed, and the case was dropped. Thomas Drake, a whistleblower at the National Security Agency who endured a similar personal, professional, and financial assault, put the matter most succinctly: “Speaking truth to power is now a criminal act.”

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