Published on Aug 22, 2013
The
NSA surveillance of millions of emails and phone calls. The dogged
pursuit of whistleblower Edward Snowden across the globe, regardless of
the diplomatic fallout. And the sentencing of Bradley Manning to 35
years in prison for giving a cache of government files to the website
WikiLeaks. Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg sees these
events as signs that the United States is becoming a police state.
"We
have not only the capability of a police state, but certain beginnings
of it right now," Ellsberg said. "And I absolutely agree with Edward
Snowden. It's worth a person's life, prospect of assassination, or life
in prison or life in exile -- it's worth that to try to restore our
liberties and make this a democratic country."Ellsberg was a military analyst with the RAND Corporation in 1969 when he secretly copied thousands of classified documents about U.S. decision-making during the Vietnam War. In 1971, he leaked the files (known as the Pentagon Papers) to The New York Times and 18 other newspapers.
Although the Nixon administration tried to prevent the publication of the files, the Supreme Court ruled in New York Times Co. v. United States that the newspaper could continue publishing the files.
Ellsberg was later tried on 12 felony counts under the Espionage Act of 1917, and faced a possible sentence of 115 years in prison. His case was dismissed in 1973 on the grounds of gross governmental misconduct.
As a candidate in 2008, Barack Obama praised instances of whistle-blowing as "acts of courage and patriotism." Since becoming president, however, his administration has charged more people under the Espionage Act than all other presidents combined.
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