Daniel Ellsberg, the whistleblower who leaked what's known as the "Pentagon Papers," has died at the age of 92. He said his whole focus was on truth-telling, even at the risk of going to prison.
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Do I keep my silence? Such a simple question, but for Daniel Ellsberg, everything hung in the balance - his future but, more importantly, he decided, his country's.
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DANIEL ELLSBERG: Do I keep my silence, go along with presidential deception, not reveal it to Congress or the public? Or should I take what I knew was the very great risk of giving Congress a real indication of where the country was going on this? And I decided that it was worth a life in prison to do that.
RASCOE: And so the military analyst and whistleblower, with the help of a friend, Anthony Russo, leaked the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times, which published them in June of 1971. Those infamous documents contained information about the extent of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and revealed how Congress and the American people were lied to. Ellsberg and Russo were charged with espionage, theft and conspiracy. But the judge ultimately dismissed the case after a government plot to discredit them was revealed. The leak set in motion events that led to the Watergate scandal and forced President Richard Nixon out of office. Ellsberg spoke to NPR's Linda Wertheimer on WEEKEND EDITION SATURDAY in 2013, when he said he was aware of the weight of his choice.
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