and it's my great honor to present him today, daniel ellsberg. daniel: one of the foundation stones of our form of government here in the united states and democracy in our republic is our first amendment to the constitution, which forbids any law by congress or the states abridging freedom of speech or of the press, along with freedom of religion and of assembly. that precluded the passage of a british-type official secrets act, which most countries have. almost no other country has a law singling out the press as protected by our freedom by the first amendment. and the british-type official secrets act, which criminalizes any or all disclosure of information protected by the government, by the executive branch, even disclosure to the public or to the press or to the congress or parliament, is criminalized and subject to prison. we've never had such an act because of our first amendment. in fact, one was almost inadvertently passed by congress in the year 2000, but it was vetoed by president clinton as a clear-cut violation of the first amendmen

this is another excerpt from the 2009 documentary "the most dangerous man in america: daniel ellsbergagon papers." the clip looks at how the nixon white house's response to ellsberg's leak. first, president nixon. just cause so guys going to b a marr, we c't be in positi of allong a fellow to get awayith thisindf whol selfhievery it willappen all overhe goverent. we have to kp our eyon the main bal the in ball i ellsber we he to gethis son a bih. >> theeague cnged theixon ite hous its whatome of u would cl theginng of thdark riod. it was roughnd-tumblbefore, but got dowand dty. so it is really finingvent the nix presidey. this iwhen eag crow -- ow waselected to head of the soalled plbersnion. >> i w summoneto the ol office by the predent. john ehrliman and met with him. there wasome suspicionhat . ellsbe had access the reecent wplan that have been developed by the nixon administration and woue able to relea those duments. i came fm that mting feeng very strongl that i s dealin withhe natiol securi crisisnd i waso means necessary to respond to it. amy: that his former nixon official he

this is another excerpt from the 2009 documentary "the most dangerous man in america: daniel ellsbergagon papers." the clip looks at how the nixon white house's response to ellsberg's leak. first, president nixon. just cause so guys going to b a marr, we c't be in positi of allong a fellow to get awayith this kindf whol selfhievery it willappen all ov the govnment. weave to kp our eyon the main bl. thmain bals ellsbg. weave to g this soof a tch. theeague cnged t nixon white hoe. its wh some ofs wouldall e beginng of e dark period. it w roughnd-tume before buit got dn and dty. so it a realldefiningvent of the non presincy. this is when ele crow -- ow s select to head of the -called umbersnion. >> i was summod to theval office by the psident john ehrchman ani met wi him. there s some suspici that dr. ellsrg hadccesto the more recentarples that have been developed by the nixon administration and wlde able to relse thoseocuments i camerom thateeting fling vetrony that was dealg wi the natnal secuty crisis and i w to mean necessary to respond to it. amy: that his former nixon official he w

earlier, i had the privilege of speaking with daniel ellsberg.niel ellsberg, thank you so much for joining us on the show tonight. we appreciate you taking time out. can i start by asking you how you are feeling right now, and when you look on your life at a moment like this, your career, what are you most proud of? >> well, i'm feeling very well. under the circumstances. as well as can be expected. late stage terminal pancreatic cancer. in operable. so, i am very lucky to have loved this long. i'm lucky to be feeling as well right now. >> and, you said lucky to have live this long. when you look back on your nine decades plus on planet earth, what are you cherishing most, what memory do cherish most, what are you most proud of achieving? >> well, just to show how old i, am i am reading the paper today about the coronation. actually, i and my former wife, when we are both 20, we were on the curb watching princess elizabeth go to westminster abby to be crowned. we were there all night in the drizzly rain, because it was -- come back from westminst

daniel ellsberg said that your whistle blowing was more important than his revelations of the pentagon papers. that's all very high praise. but how is the british government treated you in the intervening years? and were you ever able to establish a career again? uh, well, i think the british government has essentially wiped me, you know, of the us out of the folks in terms of the eros. so i was never consulted, i offered to give evidence that the chill co inquiry and that was 10 down. so my evidence was never presented at the 2 o'clock chill co inquiry into the illegal invasion of iraq am. and subsequently it just doesn't come up. it doesn't come up a tool in any type of iraq, you timeline, you know, it's just, it's, it's a non non event. it's almost like it's been wiped up, wiped off the, you know, the history books that it didn't occur. and i think this is very disturbing. because in fact, that email that i read revealed, you know, a lot of people sort of, uh, very blonde say about these sorts of things said, oh wow, this goes on all the time. you know, what's the big deal? everybod

daniel ellsberg said that you are with mit treated, you in the intervening years. and were you ever able to establish, or you know, of the out um evidence that the child caught inquiring about the illegal invasion of iraq. and so it's just, it's, it's a non a non event. it is so much. and i think this is very disturbing because in fact uh very blinds a fight on, you know, but i think there was a to the background of that email. i'm a why and how when, who and hosting was a cover up basically it was uh give to somebody considering blowing the whistle within the national security community. 8. very tricky question. um why? even when i blew the whistle, you know, into, i was not a politically motivated person, a tool. i never ends and, and one moment of ext i didn't seek any type of legal advice or, or anything that's, that's a very risky thing to do. so in various ways um who device um, i mean look at cmo hash for example the infamous the north stream. so he's protecting his sources guessing the information out us intelligence. so defense whistle blower there is no,

amy: that is daniel ellsberg, perhaps the world's most famous whistleblower who released the pentagoners to the press, just diagnosed with an operable pancreatic cancer, said he absolutely wanted to discuss this issue that this was the message she wants to put out to the world at this point in his life is the threat -- and people think of massive nuclear weapons. he said if the low-level tactical weapons that are just as dangerous, low-level tactical their weapons. command chief dennis fritz, your response? >> you said tactical weapons. that can escalate to intercontinental ballistic missiles as well. the escalation is key. ellsberg, we have been in communication with him. we even coordinated and talked with him about our letter. amy, i must tell you, i spent a few years at the time space command where our land-based missile systems were under the commander who i advised at that time. also as part of an additional duty, advised to the nato commander. at the nato, the norad commander. i can tell you, i have it in and out of the pentagon since the age of 22. i am now 66 years old. the m

amy: famed dissident and professor noam chomsky, pentagon papers whistleblower daniel ellsberg, and former labour leader jeremy corbyn are all calling on president biden to drop charges against imprisoned wikileaks founder julian assange, who faces extradition to the united states.

were all over -- he basically pushed nixon to set up the plumbers because he was obsessed that daniel ellsbergleased the pentagon papers had information about cambodia. cambodia threads through all of this. kissinger was instrumental in pushing nixon to set up the covert operation. he wanted to basically take down ellsberg. kissinger survived that basically because he wasn't -- he did not seem like the thugs nixon had around him. and the press really kind of fell for the gravitas he projected. there were looking for someone they could trust and hang something on and still have faith in the national -- in the institution of the presidency, the executive branch. kissinger was very attuned to this. he played people like ted koppel very well. what is interesting about kissinger, we know about his eight years in office. he was national security director and secretary of state under nixon and ford for a full eight years. secretary of state for the last couple of those years. we have documents -- kissinger himself has declassified, given his archive. but what happened after, when he becomes a kind of

engages in what they called the plumbers because they stop leaks and they want to find out howl daniel ellsberg who ws the principle leaker of the pentagon papers why he did what he did and some crossing of the line of individual privacy so ellsberg's psychiatrist's office was burglarized to find out if those words with revealing secrets of the psychiatrist and that was illegal and unethical and i don't say this to exonerate nixon. the american government did worse stuff than that before that. but it got beyond that because onceot you got this organization some had this experience that once you hire people to do something you've got to find something for t them to do and u can't apply an uber approach. you can't just hire gig workers, people who will invade other people's offices and say they are on the payroll they are on the payroll so to go from this approach toward the policy toward china and by the way this will lead to a new opening called dÉtente and here's a big deal it was going to lead and it did happen it led to the first arms control agreement between the nuclear superpowers. there

[laughter] they wanted to find out count daniel ellsberg who was a principal leader of the pentagon papers as we got access to the seven did what he did. this led to some crossing of the line and individual privacy. so ellsberg's psychiatrist office find out if he was revealing any deep secrets to his psychiatrist. that was illegal, that was unethical. and i do not say this by any means to try to exonerate nixon. american government have been a worse stuff than this before that. that's all itn, had been that would have been a comparatively sin. it got beat on because once you got the organization, somehow this experience or at least observed at that want to hire people to do something you've got to find something for them to do. you can't supply in ube' approach. you cannot just hiredre gig at workers people who are going to invade other people's offices. they are on the payroll. to go from this approach of policy toward china and by the way this will lead to an openini a new opening is the biggest mental lead in nixon's view and it did happen lead to the first important arms control agree

came to be called the plumbers because they stopped leaks and and they wanted to find out how daniel ellsberg, who was the principal leaker of the pentagon papers, how he got access to this stuff and why he did what he did and and this led to some crossing of the lines of individuals privacy. so ellsberg psychiatrist's office was to find out if ellsberg was revealing any deep secrets to his psyche at risk, and that was illegal it was unethical. and i don't say this by any means to try to exonerate nixon, but the american government in and worse stuff than this before that, if that's all it had been, then that would have been a comparatively venial. but it got beyond that. once you've got this organization, some of you will have had this experience or, at least observed it, that once you hire people to do something. you've got to find something for them to do and you can't you can't apply an uber approach. you know, you can't just hire as gig workers, people who are going to invade other people's offices. they, you know, if they're on the payroll, they're on the payroll. and so to go from this

. >> item 32 declare the week of april 24-30 daniel ellsberg week in city county of san francisco in honor of lifelong advocacy to achieve peace, prevent nuclear war- >> government activities to the people of the united states and rest of the world. worked on projects for the military and rand corporation, he became disturbed by u.s. government deceit public during the vietnam war. the pent gone papers revealed the u.s. government during 4 administrations deceived the news media and american people about the policy and actions in vietnam. bold action exposed dangerous pattern of lies to the u.s. public and working of the u.s. government. the release of the papers provided critical information that strengthened the anti-war and nuclear move: these movements continued in the advocacy. danium ellsberg devoted 50 years of life to activism research writings and teaching about nuclear conflict scholar and author on some of the most important issues facing the planet and all who inhabit the earth. he has supported encouraged and (indiscernible) [speaker speaking too fast] and hold governmen

this is the idea daniel ellsberg and your times in the russian tempos publish those considered one of the greatest moments of american journalism. you should instead where it might have come from. then you have the aspen workshop which was attended by the way from the "new york times", cnn, "washington post", wikipedia, facebook, twitter, many other journalists. basically read it it's like a kind of programming that they should not follow from a hack and leak situation. so you read this it feels like a brainwashing exercise where we are running against american journalists. >> mr. taibbi comment? >> are a couple moments the twitter files that really speak to a larger problem. the first twitter file we sell and exchange between representative where he is trying to explain the basics of speech law in america. she is completely -- she seems completely unaware of what for instance the "new york times" is. there are other cases which legalize the publication of stolen material, that is very important for any journalist to know. i think most these people are tech executives they do not know

amy: famed dissident and professor noam chomsky, pentagon papers whistleblower daniel ellsberg, and former british labour leader jeremy corbyn are all calling on president biden to drop charges against imprisoned wikileaks founder julian assange, who faces extradition to the united states.