Book Reviews

• Pages: 05

THE WHISTLEBLOWERS * Reviewed by Richard W Vitaris**

The Whhistleblmuers should really be titled "The Ethical Resisters." The authors, Myron and Penina Glazer, call whlstleblowen "ethical resisters" because they beheve that whistleblowen are modern day hemes committed to the principles of honesty, indimdual responsibility, and concern for public good! Their book is a 258 page homage to whistleblowen and an attack on government and industry. TheGlazers beheve that whistleblowmg is an ethial imperative. They ac-cuse employerj public and private, of vindictively retaliating against "ethical resisters," and they encourage public support far whistleblowing

The not-so-subtle message of The Whistleblowers is that the people who blow the whistle are the "good guys" and management is the "bad guys." They wrap their "ethical resisters" in the flag and devote a chapter to how whistleblowing is consistent with the religious beliefs of principal faiths Ib the authors, whistleblowing is the religious, ethical, and patriotic thing to do. They leave no mom for a contrary view and delunate such values a loyalty, bemg a team player, and the need far a cham of command.

Thm book IS so one sided and possly unfair to management that it loses all credibility by the end of the fint chapter, The authors rehed heavily upon mterviews of whistleblowen in prepanng the book's numerous case studies,2 but they appear to have made little or no effort to obtain management's side of the stoly. Even where management's contentions were avulable in the public record, TheWhistleblmvers does not State them. The authon cite nothing that detracts from their near god-like portrat of the whistleblowers described m the case studies.

One example 1.3 thecae study of Bert Berube, former Regonal Ad- 'M5mnFkretnGlarer %PeninaMlgdalGlarer lb Wnstkbloueci Pew YorW Ba-nc Books, I989 Pages YII. 286 Pnce $19 95 Appendix. sofei Index

"Labor Caunrelar Fbm McPhenon. Georga 'M Gla~er6

P Glazer The U?uJtlehlo-en 4 (1989) [heremafter me UWsdeblowen]

The authom mtemlewed 64 uhintlehlolvers and their families Id at XII These m

temlews aTe cited hberall~ throughout the text

MILITARY LAN' REVIEW [Val 127

ministrator of the General Services Admlrustration (GSA) me W'histlebiowers relates that Mr Berube, motivated by his sense of nght and wrong and his deeply held reh@ous belief^,^ made allegations against the GSA for failure to comply with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-lOQrequiring competitive bidding in ail major systems procurement. The book fails, however, TO tell the reader that the Ment Systems Protection Board (MSPB) found that Mr. Berube, while pending disciplinary action for on-the-job misconduct, attempted to coerce the Admmiscrator into transferring him by threatening to wage a campaign against the agency in the news media.4 The Giazen' oversight was not due to faulty research. because they cite the MSPB decision in ther notes. Tk Whistleblow-ers also misleads readen about the findings of the MSPB It quotes the MSPB's conclusion that the GSA...