Pentagon Papers star Daniel Ellsberg has died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 92
Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg dies of pancreatic cancer at age 92
- Ellsberg leaked a series of classified papers detailing the extent of US involvement in Vietnam
- He was once called “the most dangerous man in America.”
- In March, doctors gave him only three to six months to live when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer
Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg, the anti-war activist who exposed classified details about US strategy in the Vietnam War, had passed away at the age of 92.
His family said he died at his home in Kensington, California, after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
Daniel was a truth-seeker and patriotic truth-teller, an anti-war activist, a beloved husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, a close friend to many, and an inspiration to countless others. He will be greatly missed by all of us,” they said in a statement.
A former Vietnam hawk, Ellsberg later became a prominent anti-war activist
In March, Ellsberg said doctors had given him three to six months to live.
The ex-military analyst was once dubbed “the most dangerous man in America” after revealing in 1971 how top US officials had misled the public about the conflict.
A one-time hawk on Vietnam, Ellsberg revealed that Pentagon officials had secretly put together a 7,000-page report.
The secret memo describes a level of US involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967 that had not yet been made public.
“I felt that as an American citizen, as a responsible citizen, I could no longer participate in hiding this information from the American public,” Ellsberg said at the time. “Obviously I did this at my own risk and I am prepared to bear all the consequences of this decision.”
He would say he regretted not leaking the papers sooner
Ellsberg had the espionage charges leveled against him dismissed by a judge after he leaked classified memos to the US media
Richard Nixon, then president, went all the way to the Supreme Court to try to silence the New York Times and prevent articles based on the leak from being published.
The Times never said who leaked the papers, but the FBI quickly found out. Ellsberg hid in Boston for about two weeks before surrendering.
He was charged with robbery, espionage, conspiracy and other charges by a Los Angeles federal court in 1971.
But the judge dismissed the case after it emerged that the government had used illegal wiretapping to collect evidence.
Ellsberg would then become an outspoken critic of the government’s excesses and US military interventions abroad