Washington CNN —Daniel Ellsberg, a former military analyst and anti-war activist whose disclosure of the so-called Pentagon Papers revealed systemic US government deception about the Vietnam War, has died, his family announced in a statement. As part of his work with RAND, Ellsberg had access to classified documents that demonstrated how the US government had systemically lied to the public about the war, and Ellsberg felt compelled to reveal the information. In a letter to his friends that he shared on social media in March, Ellsberg reflected on his decision to leak the Pentagon Papers. “It was a fate I would gladly have accepted if it meant hastening the end of the Vietnam War, unlikely as that seemed (and was). “No organization really wants to show how the sausage is made or legislation is made, and they prefer to be the only voice on policy to the public,” Ellsberg told NPR.

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Persons: Washington CNN — Daniel Ellsberg, Ellsberg, ”, “, ” Ellsberg, “ Daniel, systemically, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Robert McNamara, Lyndon B, John F, Ngo Dinh Diem –, Nixon, CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, “ It’s, Chelsea Manning, Roe, Wade, Patricia, Robert, Mary, Michael Organizations: Washington CNN, New York Times, Press Foundation, RAND Corporation, RAND, The New York Times, Times, Washington Post, Pentagon, Committee, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Harvard University, Marine Corps, Harvard, International Security Affairs, State Department, White House, WikiLeaks, NPR Locations: Vietnam, Kensington , California, Chicago, Detroit, United Kingdom, Amherst, Iraq