Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers – which detailed secrets about US policy during the Vietnam war – and became one of the world’s most famous whistleblowers, has terminal cancer and expects to die within months, he has announced on Twitter.
Ellsberg, 91, tweeted late on Thursday that doctors have diagnosed him with inoperable pancreatic cancer after he underwent a scan and magnetic resonance imaging for an unrelated, “relatively minor” medical issue. He had been given three to six months to live, more or less, he said, though the cancer had not caused him any early symptoms, as is usual with the illness.
The former US government analyst added that he had opted against chemotherapy, and was assured “of great hospice care when needed”.
“Right now, I am not in any physical pain,” Ellsberg’s tweet continued, adding that after a 2021 hip replacement surgery he feels the fittest he has in years. “My cardiologist has given me license to abandon my salt-free diet of the last six years. This has improved my life dramatically: the pleasure of eating my former favorite foods! And my energy level is high.”
The documents Ellsberg became globally known for leaking were referred to as the Pentagon Papers, which outlined American involvement in Vietnam between 1945 and 1967. They revealed that successive White House administrations realized the US could not win the war there.
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