His 1971 leak exposed lies about the Vietnam War and saw him dubbed “the most dangerous man in America”.
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Daniel Ellsberg, the whistleblower who exposed the extent of US involvement in the Vietnam War, has died, aged 92.
He died at his home in Kensington, California, of pancreatic cancer, his family said.
The former US military analyst’s 1971 Pentagon Papers leak led to him being dubbed “the most dangerous man in America”.
It led to a Supreme Court case as the Nixon administration tried to block publication in the New York Times.
But espionage charges against Ellsberg were ultimately dismissed.
For decades, Ellsberg was a tireless critic of government overreach and military interventions.
His opposition crystallised during the 1960s, when he advised the White House on nuclear strategy and assessed the Vietnam War for the Department of Defense.
What Ellsberg learned during that period weighed heavily on his conscience. If only the public knew, he thought, political pressure to end the war might prove irresistible.
The release of the Pentagon Papers was a product of that rationale.