The Broken Whistle: A Deep State Run Amok

“Now here I was, post-Snowden, relying on a system President Obama, Congress, and IC leaders had touted as successful and functional. But was it truly working? My case exposed it as nothing more than a sham. Would the CIA and the IC attempt to rectify the situation? Did they genuinely desire to fix the broken system? Or would they persist in employing their illegal bullying tactics to silence whistleblowers? I was determined to take action, offering them an opportunity to correct their behavior.” —From The Broken Whistle

The Broken Whistle is former CIA officer and Intelligence Community whistleblower Pedro Israel Orta’s firsthand account of a system designed to expose government wrongdoing and protect those who speak out—and what happens when that system fails.

Drawing on eighteen years inside the CIA, including service in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Middle East, CIA Headquarters, and the Office of the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community, Orta takes readers inside a world largely hidden from public view. His experience working on whistleblower issues, and later becoming a whistleblower himself, provides the foundation for a gripping examination of government accountability, institutional power, retaliation, and congressional oversight.

The book examines the 2019 “Ukraine whistleblower” controversy that contributed to the first impeachment of President Donald Trump. Orta questions how that complaint was handled and contrasts the extraordinary attention it received with the experiences of Intelligence Community whistleblowers who struggled for years to obtain investigations, protection from retaliation, or meaningful relief.

But Donald Trump is not the book’s ultimate subject. The system is.

At the center of The Broken Whistle is a question that transcends political parties: What happens when the institutions responsible for investigating government wrongdoing and protecting whistleblowers fail the people who turn to them for protection?

Orta lays bare his own harrowing journey through the CIA, recounting allegations of retaliation, institutional resistance, failed oversight, and ultimately the termination of a career in which he received eight Exceptional Performance Awards for contributions to U.S. national security.

The book also confronts the responsibility of Congress. Orta argues that congressional oversight is an essential check on executive power, especially within the classified world of intelligence and national security, and that the consequences of failed oversight extend far beyond any individual whistleblower.

This is not an argument that accountability matters only when one political party controls the White House. Government power must be accountable regardless of who holds it.

Part CIA memoir, part whistleblower exposé, The Broken Whistle challenges readers across the political spectrum to confront difficult questions about secrecy, dissent, executive power, congressional oversight, and accountability.

Editorial Reviews:

"'The Broken Whistle' is more than an exposé; it is a discerning examination of the mechanisms of power, corruption, and the pursuit of truth and justice. Orta's work is a significant contribution to literature for those intrigued by the inner workings of the intelligence community, the complexities of political power, and the audacity required to confront a system that often suppresses dissent. His story serves as a potent reminder of the continual struggle for transparency and accountability at the highest levels of authority." –Literary Titan Reviews

"A stand-out exposure of the haphazard organization of the Central Intelligence Agency. This proves to be a valuable book in understanding how our intelligence agencies are run and often mismanaged." -Reedsy Discovery, Philip Zozzaro, San Francisco Book Review

PEDRO ISRAEL ORTA is an 18-year CIA veteran whose career included counterterrorism, war-zone service, and Intelligence Community Inspector General oversight, with assignments in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Middle East, and CIA Headquarters. He received eight Exceptional Performance Awards for contributions to U.S. national security. Orta earned degrees from Florida International University and George Washington University and is a U.S. Army veteran, author, executive producer, and speaker.