S3 Ep. 18: Military Ethics Education and Application

In episode 18 of Battle Rhythm’s third season, Steve testifies at the Parliamentary Defence Committee, discussion ensues. Co-host Thomas Hughes, Assistant Professor at Mt. Allison University and Steve also discuss the submarine procurement announcement, security clearances for provincial and territorial leaders and newly released intelligence priorities from the federal agencies. Today’s feature interview is with David Whetham, Professor of Ethics and the Military Profession in the Defence Studies Department of King’s College London.

David Whetham is the Director of the King’s Centre for Military Ethics and delivers or coordinates the military ethics component of courses for between two and three thousand British and international officers a year at the UK’s Joint Services Command and Staff College. Before joining King’s as a permanent member of staff in 2003, David worked as a BBC researcher and with the OSCE in Kosovo, supporting the 2001 and 2002 elections.

David supports military ethics education in many different countries and has held Visiting Fellowships at the Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership, US Naval Academy Annapolis, the Centre for Defence Leadership and Ethics at the Australian Defence College in Canberra and at the University of Glasgow. He was a Mid-Career Fellow at the British Academy in 2017-18 and is currently a Visiting Professorial Fellow at the University of New South Wales. He was appointed as the Jeffrey Grey Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Australian Defence College in 2023. David is a founding member of the European Chapter of the International Society for Military Ethics (Euro ISME) which holds an annual conference for military practitioners, academics and defence policy-makers.In 2020, David was appointed as an Assistant Inspector General of the Australian Defence Force to contribute to the Afghanistan Inquiry into allegations of war crimes committed by Special Forces personnel. His contribution was published as an annex to the Brereton Report in November 2020, with all of the recommendations being accepted by the Chief of the General Staff and Prime Minister. He currently sits on the UK Defence Medical Services Ethics Committee, the UK MoD AI Ethics Panel, the 77X Ethics Advisory Panel, and the Australian Defence Force’s International Standing Panel of Experts in Ethics.

David is married with two children, and sits as a Magistrate on the Wiltshire Bench. In his spare time, he plays trombone with the 41º Big Band and enjoys epée fencing.