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Daniel Ellsberg, the military analyst who was known for leaking the ‘Pentagon Papers’, has died of pancreatic cancer.

The family of former US military analyst Daniel Ellsberg, who became popular for leaking the Pentagon Papers to the press during the Vietnam War, confirmed his death Friday at 92. Ellsberg was previously diagnosed with "inoperable pancreatic cancer" in March 2023.

"Daniel was a seeker of truth and a patriotic truth-teller, an antiwar activist, a beloved husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, a dear friend to many, and an inspiration to countless more," the statement read. "He will be dearly missed by all of us."

Military Analyst Daniel Ellsberg Dies at 92

His 1971 disclosure of the Pentagon Papers, which were confidential documents during the time, revealed secrets about how the United States found its way into Vietnam and got stuck there and cast light on how US leaders deceived the country about the casualties in Vietnam.

The release of the documents led to a high-stakes legal battle over the freedom of the press, as well as the downfall of President Richard Nixon over the Watergate scandal.

"He had concluded the violence in Vietnam was senseless and therefore immoral. His conscience told him he had to stop the war," wrote Neil Sheehan, the first journalist who published parts of the Pentagon Papers, in his book 'A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam.'

Ellsberg, a military analyst before the Pentagon Papers, has been disillusioned with the excessive alarmist sentiment of the US government that he decided to become a peace activist later in his life.

Daniel Ellsberg was born in 1931 in Chicago. His first memory was the death of his mother, Adele, and sister, Gloria, after his father, Harry, fell asleep at the wheel of their car in July 1946. Ellsberg went to Harvard and received a doctorate in economics. He also served in the US Marines, becoming a top marksman.

These backgrounds landed him a job as a strategic analyst at the Pentagon, where he met and became close to retired US Army officer John Paul Vann, who led military operations in Vietnam as a civilian. Vann noticed the concerning and misguided American policies in Vietnam and saw Ellsberg as "another [one] in the small band of Americans who dared and cared," according to Sheehan.

In Vietnam, Ellsberg observed the disparity between how the war was being told in the US and the reality on the ground. He also noticed the utter disregard of American troops toward civilians. "Nothing else," he wrote in reflection later, "seemed so purely incomprehensibly evil as the deliberate bombing of women and children."

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The Pentagon Papers Saga

Returning home to Washington, Ellsberg was shunned despite his firsthand experience. His disillusionment came to a head after leaking a 1967 report commissioned by then-US Defense Secretary Robert McNamara that sought to trace the history of US involvement in Vietnam and comprehend the ongoing mess. The final report was 7,000 pages long and spread over 47 volumes. Only 15 document copies existed, and all were classified as top secret.

Ellsberg had access to the Pentagon Papers through his job at RAND Corporation and was appalled by the "pattern of deception" US officials were doing at the time, wrote Steve Sheinkin in "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War."

He was increasingly conscious that the Pentagon Papers should be publicized, and he had them photocopied with the help of RAND colleague Anthony Russo in October 1969. He unsuccessfully tried to submit the material to antiwar lawmakers, but they declined.

He then contacted Sheehan, who worked at the New York Times. The newspaper published parts of it beginning on June 13, 1971. When the Times was ordered to stop publishing it, Ellsberg gave some material to the Washington Post, which started its series of articles on June 18. Several newspapers followed suit, and it ended up being mentioned in the US Congressional Record.

The US government was hit with a dilemma of whether or not it could stop newspapers from publishing material in advance. The US Supreme Court opted to hear the case expedited on June 30. The justices voted 6-3 in favor of the newspapers.

"In revealing the workings of government that led to the Vietnam War, the newspapers nobly did precisely what the Founders hoped and trusted they would do," Justice Hugo Black wrote in the ruling.

Ellsberg eventually revealed he was the man behind the leaks. "I hope that truth will free us of this war," he told Walter Cronkite on CBS on June 23, 1971. This led to his arrest at Nixon's behest in September of that year.

Despite this, the charges laid on Ellsberg were dismissed in May 1973, partially due to the revelations of corruption and misconduct by the Nixon administration, which led to Nixon's resignation in August 1974.

Ellsberg's Legacy

Ellsberg remained an activist until the end of his life, with a particular interest in preventing nuclear war and criticizing government outreach and military interventions.

In the 1960s and 1970s, his actions became the subject of several documentaries and films, including "The Most Dangerous Man in America" and the 2017 Steven Spielberg film "The Post." They proved to be an inspiration for the HBO 2023 miniseries "White House Plumbers."

Upon the declassification of the Pentagon Papers in 2011, Ellsberg urged others to follow his example and publish secrets of ongoing US conflicts in the Middle East. "The personal risks are great," he wrote in The Guardian. "But a war's worth of lives might be saved."

He has also been a resource person whenever a whistleblower leaked government or military secrets, such as Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, and Bradley Manning, among others.

Ellsberg did one final interview with Politico's former national editor Michael Hirsh a few months before he died. Despite trailblazing the path towards accountability, he lamented how American society and government remained adamant in its "desire to keep secrets."

"People in all governments in all of history have been willing to take all actions necessary...to keep people from knowing what will lead to their being blamed for a mistake, for a lie, or a crime or their incompetence," he said.

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