Daniel Ellsberg, Pentagon Papers leaker and anti-war activist, dies at 92

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. He was 92.

The cause was pancreatic cancer, his family said. Ellsberg announced his diagnosis in March, saying at the time that doctors had given him three to six months to live and that he had decided not to undergo chemotherapy.

He died on Friday at his home in Kensington, California, according to his family.

Considered "the patron saint of whistleblowers" for revealing to The New York Times in 1971 that the US knew the Vietnam war was "unwinnable," Ellsberg spent his life focused on peace and transparency, later co-founding the Freedom of the Press Foundation.

"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," his family said. "He will be dearly missed by all of us."

In the late 1960s, Ellsberg was working as a defense analyst for the RAND Corporation when he became disillusioned with US involvement in Vietnam. 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.

He first approached several US senators in hopes that they could enter the papers into public record, but when that wasn't successful, he leaked all 7,000 pages to The New York Times, which published them in 1971.