Pentagon Papers

As the congress tries to release the documents related to the Steel dossier arguments arise on both sides of the issue and both sides of the isle. To reveal information before the government has an opportunity to review it, risks exposing covert methods and operatives. A similar situation arose during the Johnson/Nixon years when a government whistle blower Daniel Ellsberg released information about the Viet Nam War. He did so because he felt the government wanted to cover up the information and it would not otherwise be released. A 1996 article in The New York Times said that the Pentagon Papers had demonstrated, among other things, that the Johnson Administration systematically lied, not only to the public but also to Congress".[3] He was charged with espionage but later the charges were dismissed. For his disclosure of the Pentagon Papers, Ellsberg was initially charged with conspiracy, espionage, and theft of government property, but the charges were later dismissed after prosecutors investigating the Watergate Scandal discovered that the staff members in the Nixon White House had ordered the so-called White House Plumbers to engage in unlawful efforts to discredit Ellsberg.[5]