daniel ellsberg. they failed. and today he is still warning the american people about the dangers of unchecked military power. but are they listening? daniel ellsberg, welcome to hardtalk. glad to be with you. it s a great pleasure to be at your home. now, you have lived a long and a very full life. and i guess the truth is, you know that you will always be associated with one extraordinary decision you took to leak the pentagon papers. does it bother you that that is the thing that people think about you? no. well, i know that it is, but i ve lived with that for a long time. my intent at the time was to put out more important papers. i felt top secret papers on nuclear war planning and the prospects of nuclear strategy, supposedly, which i had in my safe. top secret safe at rand. and i copied them at the same time. and as a friend of mine who went to prison, and was a model for me, really, randy keeler. told me at the time he was one of the very few people i told i was going
president lula is expected to attend the wake on tuesday before the funeral procession. pele died on thursday aged 82. now on bbc news, it s hardtalk with stephen sackur. welcome to hardtalk. i m stephen sackur and today i m in beautiful northern california to meet the man once described by henry kissinger as the most dangerous in america. in 1971, that man, my guest daniel ellsberg, leaked the so called pentagon papers. he exposed decades of us government lies about the war in vietnam. the nixon administration was enraged. they tried to destroy daniel ellsberg. they failed. and today he is still warning the american but are they listening? daniel ellsberg, welcome to hardtalk. glad to be with you. it s a great pleasure to be at your home. now, you have lived a long and a very full life. and i guess the truth is, you know that you will always be associated with one extraordinary decision you took to leak the pentagon papers. does it bother you that that is the thing that peop
we should have some research and development on non nuclear. so, i was in vietnam looking into what they could use possibly. that was an advisory mission then and it became very clear to me. i spent day and night practically reading cables in the embassy office and talking to advisers. made it very clear. this was a loser. this was not the place to plant the imperialflag. i didn t use the word imperial in those days. so it was actually being in vietnam that changed your mind? from vietnam, i came back and said to the rand corporation, which i was working on, i was a consultant for defence. stay away from this. there will be no. there will be nothing to gain from being associated with this war. when i went into the pentagon, i was asked in, as a full employee in 1964, i was asked to work on vietnam only exclusively for my boss, the assistant secretary of defense. but it was very clear then in 6a, the place was falling apart. the government, our puppet government, was falling
the young daniel ellsberg, because it seems to me. i wasn t that young. i was a0. 0k. well, pretty young. from my current perspective, very young. but the point is, you in some ways were trained to be a security hawk. you were working in america s sort of nuclear strategy. that was one of your key concerns. you clearly believed in america s position on the cold war. in fact, i think it s fair to say that you supported intervention in vietnam. yes and no. i d been in vietnam on a research group for the defense department in 1961. it was actually looking into limited war research and development. because previously under eisenhower, all the work and all the r&d had gone into nuclear weapons. and kennedy said, no, we should have some research and development on non nuclear. so, i was in vietnam
but i just want to get inside your head a little bit. the young daniel ellsberg, because it seems to me. i wasn t that young. i was a0. 0k. well, pretty young. from my current perspective. very young. but the point is, you in some ways were trained to be a security hawk. you were working in america s sort of nuclear strategy. that was one of your key concerns. you clearly believed in america s position on the cold war. in fact, i think it s fair to say that you supported intervention in vietnam. yes and no. i d been in vietnam on a research group for the defense department in 1961. it was actually looking into limited war research and development. because previously under eisenhower, all the work and all the r&d had gone into nuclear weapons. and kennedy said, no, we should have some research and development on non nuclear. so, i was in vietnam