10 famous whistleblowers in US history

Daniel Ellsberg

Former US military analyst Daniel Ellsberg Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers, a secret account of the Vietnam War, to The New York Times in 1971. The Pentagon Papers demonstrated that the Lyndon Johnson administration had repeatedly lied to both the public and Congress about the scope and actions of US political and military involvement in Vietnam. Ellsberg, who had worked on the report as an employee of the RAND Corporation, was initially charged with conspiracy, espionage, and theft of government property, but the charges were dismissed when prosecutors investigating the Watergate Scandal found evidence that White House staff had engaged in illegal attempts to discredit Ellsberg.

The release of the Pentagon Papers led to the Supreme Court case's landmark decision in the New York Times v. United States that affirmed the First Amendment right of free press against prior restraint by the government.