Brian Castner
Senior Crisis Advisor, Amnesty International (website)
twitter: @Brian_Castner
email: brian [dot] castner [at] amnesty [dot] org
Senior Crisis Advisor, Amnesty International (website)
twitter: @Brian_Castner
email: brian [dot] castner [at] amnesty [dot] org
small arms and light weapons (SALW) | landmines and cluster munitions | harm to civilians
Brian Castner is a Senior Crisis Advisor with Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Programme, specializing in weapons and military operations. In his role he investigates arms embargo breaches and violations of international humanitarian law; his latest field missions include Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, South Sudan, and Ukraine.
Castner is a former Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) officer in the United States Air Force, where he served in Iraq, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. In the military he specialized in unexploded ordnance, improvised explosive devices, post-blast investigations, and chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons. After his military experience, Castner became a journalist, writing stories for the New York Times, Esquire, Wired, Foreign Policy, The Atlantic, and National Public Radio. He has twice received grants from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and is the author of four nonfiction books.
Recent Publications:
* additional authors contributed to this work
Brian Castner is a Senior Crisis Advisor with Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Programme, specializing in weapons and military operations. In his role he investigates arms embargo breaches and violations of international humanitarian law; his latest field missions include Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, South Sudan, and Ukraine.
Castner is a former Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) officer in the United States Air Force, where he served in Iraq, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. In the military he specialized in unexploded ordnance, improvised explosive devices, post-blast investigations, and chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons. After his military experience, Castner became a journalist, writing stories for the New York Times, Esquire, Wired, Foreign Policy, The Atlantic, and National Public Radio. He has twice received grants from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and is the author of four nonfiction books.
Recent Publications:
- "Ukraine: “Children”: The attack on the Donetsk Regional Academic Drama Theatre in Mariupol, Ukraine," Amnesty International, June 30, 2022.
- "The White Power Mercenaries Fighting For the Lost Cause Around the World," Time, June 1, 2022.
- "Identifying the Drone-Launched Munitions Used in Ethiopian Air Strikes," Citizen Evidence Lab - Amnesty International, February 14, 2022.
- Looking Ahead: Civilians Must Be Protected from Bombing and Shelling in Towns and Cities, Forum on the Arms Trade, January 13, 2022.*
- "Afghanistan: No escape: War crimes and civilian harm during the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban," Amnesty International, December 15, 2021.*
- "Research and Regulation of Less-Lethal Projectiles Critically Needed," Bill of Health blog, Harvard Law, July 30, 2021.*
- “What I Saw is Death”: War Crimes in Mozambique’s Forgotten Cape, Amnesty International, March 2, 2021*
- "As COVID-19 Burns, World's Forgotten Wars Continue to take Toll on Civilians as Well," Inter Press Service (IPS) News Agency, May 21, 2020.
- South Sudan: Evidence of Violations and Illicit Concealment of Arms, Amnesty International, April 30, 2020*
- Somalia: Zero Accountability as Civilian Deaths Mount in US Airstrikes, Amnesty International, April 1, 2020*
* additional authors contributed to this work