Daniel Ellsberg, author of Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers, discusses the government and media attacks on Julian Assange and WikiLeaks; a reminder that — at the time — Ellsberg was called a traitor for releasing the Pentagon papers; why Assange can’t be charged with a crime without jeopardizing investigative journalism and the notion of a free press; how Bradley Manning’s punitive detainment conditions seem designed to elicit a false confession; the question whether a potential US official secrets act (or implementation of the 1917 Espionage Act as such) would survive Supreme Court scrutiny; how the NY Times‘ deference to government power — especially when it counts the most — guarantees immunity from the charges leveled at WikiLeaks; Ellsberg’s reassuring conversation with Assange about his sexual misconduct charges; and why we need more whistleblowers ready to risk life in prison to expose government criminality.
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