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What surprised Ellsberg most in all of this swirling excitement and activity was his own growing celebrity, and while he spent years fearing the worst for his own admitted culpability in defying criminal statues by stealing and leaking official government secrets, eventually the charges against him were dropped based, among other things, on the revelations of the Nixon's plumber's unit's illegal break-in at Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office. Ellsberg was an unlikely hero, a graduate of the Harvard University economics doctoral program, a former marine officer turned defense issue intellectual, a frequent visitor to Vietnam who was rankled by the distinct difference between what he was seeing and experiencing during his visits, on the one hand, and what the official American government position regarding what the situation was on the ground on the other.

Based on this growing dissatisfaction and the discovery of the so-called Pentagon papers, a treasure trove of more than 7,000 pages of carefully documented details about the U.S. Government's involvement in Vietnam and its motives, considerations, and actions, Ellsberg tried to enlist the support of a number of Senators and Congressmen in an effort to use the evidence in the Pentagon Papers to undercut the Government's position and thereby end the war itself. Failing to do so, he finally surrendered the documents to the New York Times, which agreed to publish them through a series of daily excerpts (and also later in an abridged best-selling paperback version). The Government tried to stop publication, but was denied the right to do so by the Supreme Court. Of course, with the publication came an increase in public opposition to the war and a recognition of the degree to which the Executive branch and the military had intentionally misled the public regarding the conduct of the war and the situation on the ground for the moiré than 500,000 troops then stationed in-country. Still, it took more than five more years before the American involvement in Vietnam ended.

This is a wonderful book to experience, and in reading it one comes to recognize the formidable skills Ellsberg brings to bear in terms of his amazing recall, eye for details, and ability to successfully juggle a variety of interacting considerations at the same time. This guy is smarter than the average teddy bear, and it is easy to see how difficult a task it would have been for the Department of Defense and the nitwits over in the White House to try to outmaneuver him. I was a bit surprised at some of the personal revelations in the book, and while it is obvious that Mr. Ellsberg has a healthy ego, he manages for the most part to keep it at bay in retelling a story that could have easily have devolved in a retelling of the David against Goliath epic, but which he keeps objective and factual enough to keep the story rolling along as a recounting of the gripping events that transpired more than thirty years ago and helped to turn the tide of public opinion toward the war in Vietnam. I heartily recommend this book to anyone interested in 20th century American history. Enjoy!

A popular government, without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy; or, perhaps, both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives.

James Madison, drafter of the first amendment

Once a self-described cold warrior, Daniel Ellsberg, a published expert in game theory who holds Harvard Ph.D. in Economics, has also been an analyst for the government and the Rand Corporation and, most significantly, the man who released the Pentagon Papers, which ultimately brought down the Nixon administration and forced the US out of Vietnam. In Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers, Daniel Ellsberg finally tells his story of one of the most important periods in US History and the central role he played in it.

Starting with his analysis of the Tonkin Gulf incidents, which led to the increased involvement of the US in Vietnam in 1961, Ellsberg leads the reader through an insider's tour of the intelligence community, the upper echelons of the administration and even the in-country conditions of Vietnam during the war . He does this on his way to explaining how he went from supporting the war as a way to prevent nuclear conflict with the Soviet Union to risking life in prison to leak the 7,000 pages of Top Secret documents that came to be known at the Pentagon Papers in a desperate attempt to stop the destruction both of US soldiers and the people and country of Vietnam. The Pentagon Papers themselves reveal the systematic deception of the American people about the scope of our actual and intended involvement in the Vietnam war, a history of deception which actually predates formal US involvement. Secrets reveals far more.

Secrets reads like a Tom Clancy novel in some respects: while the Nixon administration is ordering G. Gordon Liddy and the Watergate Plumbers to steal confidential records from Ellsberg's psychoanalyst in California and to mount a physically debilitating attack on Ellsberg at a public appearance in Washington, Ellsberg and his friends are providing the New York Times and other newspapers with the Pentagon Papers. As subsequent newspapers are blocked by Justice Department injunctions from publishing what Ellsberg has provided them, Ellsberg and others courageously provide copies of the Top Secret documents to other media outlets.

One of the most disturbing revelations of Secrets is the lengths to which the US Government went to try to in trying silence Ellsberg and to continue its known-to-be-futile efforts in Vietnam. John Mitchell, Nixon's Attorney General, even tried to override the 1st Amendment for the first time in history, filing an injunction against the New York Times and three other papers for printing the Pentagon Papers at all.

Aside from being an important historical document, Secrets is a nearly confessional look into the heart and soul of a man who risked all he had for the sake of the country he believed in. It is a tale of integrity and responsibility, in the face of overwhelming resistance and power and the threat of up to 115 years in federal prison, and a tale about a man who has indirectly affected the lives of every person in the country and our understanding of our own government.

Since I opened this review with a quote, it is fitting I should close with one. Hugo Black, writing for the majority of the Supreme Court, wrote these words, which apply to Daniel Ellsberg as surely as they apply to the newspaper who bought the lawsuit:

And paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people and sending them off to distant lands to die of foreign fevers and foreign shot and shell. In my view, far from deserving condemnation for their courageous reporting, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and other newspapers should be commended for serving the purpose that the Founding Fathers saw so clearly.

Hugo Black, New York Times Co. v United States

Daniel Ellsburg was a very smart, former Marine officer. He was, and is, patriotic, and dedicated to the defeat of communism and tyranny. He quickly climbed the ladder of the US foreign policy power strata, ending up, in the early 60's, as aide to the Assistant Secretary of Defense, John McNaughton. At the time, the nation was slowly being drawn into the Vietnam War. The narration begins with quite the bang, as Ellsburg's first day at the Pentagon was also the day of the Tonkin Gulf Incident. Ellsburg was swamped with dozens of hysterical wire messages, giving a totally confusing image of the "attack". Soon after, however, Ellsburg realized, and let his superiors know, that the "incident" was most likely a misunderstanding and a mistake in communications. Then, as a reader, we are first introduced to the shroud of lies that clouded the eyes of most American policy makers of the era.

Ellsburg lays out his case very well. Even before the Tonkin Gulf Incident, people in the Johnson Administration were determined to start a war with North Vietnam, unbeknownst to the American people or Congress. Massive covert operations were carried out, with the full knowledge of the President and Secretary of Defense McNamara. Again, the lies covered any of this up. Later on, Ellsburg is tapped to write a history of how the US got involved in Vietnam. This was probably the most enlightening part of the book, as it showed many US policy makers and officials had tons of early doubts about involvement in Vietnam. Their warnings went unheeded. I felt, from reading the book, that no one could imagine the US would get so involved, then actually lose, so there was no need to "rock the boat". The effect of this was no one could be honest. LBJ would never entertain any negative reports, nor would McNamara and the military.

One of the things I had no idea about was Ellsburg's actual trip to Vietnam, where he worked with the legendary John Paul Vann. This was amazing, as Ellsburg took on some extremely dangerous missions. He quickly saw what many others were reporting about. Because of the lack of any South Vietnamese leadership, and continuing American misunderstanding of the situation, the war was unwinnable. The worst part about this was that many trusted US sources were writing back to their superiors about the futility of the war, but no one would listen. Slowly, Ellsburg begins to realize that Presidents like Johnson and Nixon had no interest in actually telling the truth to the American people, and were more than willing to continue the massive coverup of the truth. Bravely, Ellsburg revealed a wealth of government documents to the New York Times, known as the Pentagon Papers. They documented the decades of American reports, describing the ultimate futility of the US presence in Vietnam. Of course, President Nixon and his cronies responded to this leak with their characteristic dirty tactics. Ellsburg almost went to jail for his bravery, but was later vindicated.

So what does the book teach us? Well, it teaches us that there must be strong public attention to government business. People like Johnson and McNamara, the two main "villains" of the book, could do whatever they wanted as long as the public did not care. Ellsburg does make a few statements I did not agree with, but overall, there is no doubt in my mind he is a brave man who loves his country, and was willing to put his life on the line to save it from an even more terrible disaster. This book does not condemn all government, or the US system, but it does argue for more oversight. Most people can agree on that, no matter what their political bent.