Daniel Ellsberg

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Person.png Daniel Ellsberg   Amazon History Commons NNDB Sourcewatch Spartacus Website Wikileaks WikiquoteRdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
(whistleblower, activist, author)
Daniel Ellsberg.jpg
BornApril 7, 1931
Chicago, Illinois
Died16 June, 2023 (Age 92)
Alma materHarvard University, Cambridge University
Children • Robert
• Mary
• Michael Ellsberg
SpouseCarol Cummings
ExposedThe Pentagon Papers
Member ofBelmarsh Tribunal, National Security Whistleblowers Coalition, RAND/Notable Participants
A feted whistleblower who exposed some details of how the US government was waging the Vietnam War. The fact that he was not persecuted has lead several commentators to suggest that he may not in fact have been all he appears to be. Specifically, the Pentagon Papers may have been a limited hangout.

Daniel Ellsberg was a former United States military analyst employed by the RAND Corporation who precipitated a national political controversy in 1971 when he released The Pentagon Papers, a top-secret Pentagon study of US government decision-making about the Vietnam War, to The New York Times and other newspapers.

The Pentagon Papers

Full article: The Pentagon Papers

After returning from Vietnam, Ellsberg went back to work at the RAND Corporation. In 1967, he contributed to a top-secret study of classified documents regarding the conduct of the Vietnam War that had been commissioned by US Defense Secretary Robert McNamara. These documents, completed in 1968, later became known collectively as the Pentagon Papers. Because he held an extremely high-level security clearance, Ellsberg was one of very few individuals who had access to the complete set of documents. They revealed that the government had knowledge all along that the war would not likely be won, and that continuing the war would lead to many times more casualties than was ever admitted publicly. Further, the papers showed that high-ranking officials had a deep cynicism toward the public, as well as disregard for the loss of life and injury suffered by soldiers and civilians. Webster Tarpley suggests that the Pentagon papers were a limited hangout.

Later Life

Since the end of the Vietnam War he has been a lecturer, writer and activist on the dangers of the nuclear era and unlawful interventions. In 2002 he published Secrets.[1]

 

Legal Case

NamePlaintiff(s)Defendant(s)StartEndDescription
Hedges v. ObamaDaniel Ellsberg
Chris Hedges
Noam Chomsky
Jenifer Bolen
Kai Wargalla
Birgitta Jónsdóttir
Alexa O'Brien
Barack Obama
Leon Panetta
John McCain
John Boehner
Harry Reid
Eric Cantor
Nancy Pelosi
US Department of Defense
Mitch McConnell
United States of America
13 January 201228 April 2014The plaintiffs challenged the 2012 NDAA contending that indefinite detention on "suspicion of providing substantial support" to groups such as al-Qaeda and the Taliban was so vague as to allow unconstitutional, indefinite detention of civilians based on vague allegations. The Court of Appeals struck down an initial agreement, and the US Supreme Court concurred, arguing that the plaintiffs could not prove they would be affected by the law, so had no standing to contest it.

 

A Document by Daniel Ellsberg

TitleDocument typePublication dateSubject(s)Description
Document:Ex-Intelligence Officers, Others See Plusses in WikiLeaks Disclosuresstatement7 December 2010WikileaksA statement of support for Wikileaks. "The big question is not whether Americans can 'handle the truth.' We believe they can..."

 

Quotes by Daniel Ellsberg

PageQuoteDateSource
Corporate media“I am confident that there is conversation inside the Government as to ‘How do we deal with Sibel [Edmonds]? The first line of defense is to ensure that she doesn’t get into the [corporate] media. I think any outlet that thought of using her materials would go to to the government and they would be told “don’t touch this...””2014Global Research
Operation Gladio/B“I am confident that there is conversation inside the Government as to ‘How do we deal with Sibel [Edmonds]? The first line of defense is to ensure that she doesn’t get into the [corporate] media. I think any outlet that thought of using her materials would go to to the government and they would be told "don’t touch this..."”

 

Event Participated in

EventStartEndLocation(s)Description
Munich Security Conference/201915 February 201917 February 2019Munich
Bavaria
Germany
The 55th Munich Security Conference, which included "A Spreading Plague" aimed at "identifying gaps and making recommendations to improve the global system for responding to deliberate, high consequence biological events."

 

Event Witnessed

EventDescription
Truth And Reconciliation Committee on the Assassinations Of The 1960sA call for a Truth And Reconciliation Committee

 

Related Documents

TitleTypePublication dateAuthor(s)Description
Document:How to identify CIA limited hangout operationarticle18 June 2013Webster TarpleyCiting the Pentagon Papers as an example, Tarpley suggests that both Wikileaks and the Snowden affair are limited hangout operations by the CIA.
Document:The "Pentagon Papers" leak was a CIA opblog post7 June 2006Ashton Gray
Document:Your Man in the Public Gallery: Assange Hearing Day 11blog post17 September 2020Craig MurrayDan Ellsberg, doyen of whistleblowers, had at first been inclined to believe the US Government on Iraqi WMD, just as he had first been inclined to believe the government on deaths caused by Wikileaks releases. In both cases it had proved they were making it up.
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References