Daniel Ellsberg is an American former military analyst and whistleblower known for releasing the Pentagon Papers in 1971. The documents exposed government deception regarding the Vietnam War, leading to a major political scandal and a significant shift in public opinion. Ellsberg's courageous act of leaking classified information had a profound impact on U.S. politics and journalism. His actions have been recognized for their role in promoting transparency and accountability in government.

"There are two types of courage involved with what I did. When it comes to picking up a rifle, millions of people are capable of doing that, as we see in Iraq or Vietnam. But when it comes to risking their careers, or risking being invited to lunch by the establishment, it turns out that's remarkably rare."



"President Johnson put destroyers in harm's way in the Tonkin Gulf not only once, but several times, with the, with a lot of his people hoping that it would lead to a confrontation and claiming that it had. And could have resulted in the lost of many lives in the course of it."



"It was a good 15 or 20 years before anyone at Rand would be in the same room with me. They didn't want the question raised, 'What's your relationship with Daniel Ellsberg?' And not one of them wrote me a letter because they didn't want a letter of theirs to show up in my trash - which the FBI had been going through."



"Only we, the public, can force our representatives to reverse their abdication of the war powers that the Constitution gives exclusively to the Congress."



"Obama is making a choice now that will lead to the deaths of many thousands of civilians in Afghanistan by American hands. By ordinary standards of presidents, he is a decent man. But those standards aren't good enough. He's in a position either to kill or not to kill, and he's made the decision to kill."

