Major Jack J. Wells and Vietnam: A Case Study of the Prosocial Organizational Behavior Model of Whistle-Blowing

• In Event: Whistleblowing About National Security and Unsafe Food: Case Studies, Policy Recommendations and Pedagogy

Abstract

This case study is based upon letters Major Jack J. Wells wrote over two tours in Vietnam, first as a US Army military advisor and counter-insurgency specialist in 1962-1963, and later as a civilian public safety advisor for the US Agency for International Development in 1965. In these letters, Wells expresses frustrations in reporting the malfeasance (e.g., graft, cowardice, war crimes, etc.) he uncovers and describes how his criticisms of US and South Vietnamese officials advance to the point that his superiors initiate efforts to suppress his reports and “quiet” him. In addition to exposing US and South Vietnamese collusion in corruption from first the provincial level, and later the national level, the letters describe Wells’ transition from efforts aimed at eliminating the National Liberation Front (NLF) in the provinces under his command, to his hopes that the NLF is supporting his efforts to help the Vietnamese people. The findings support the prosocial organizational behavior model of whistle-blowing. Also considered is progress in documenting Wells’ claims, as well as evidence supporting/refuting theories about the circumstances that led to his death.

Author

• James Bevard Wells, Eastern Kentucky University