Whistleblower Vietnam War: it was worth it

london - Risks such as years of imprisonment, the death penalty, or a life in exile are worth it to address abuses and leak secret documents. That is what the American whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg says in an interview with The Guardian, in which he and Edward Snowden speak.

Ellsberg leaked in 1971 as a defense analyst sensitive information about the Vietnam War, the so-called Pentagon Papers. 'It was worth it,' says Ellsberg. And it still is, he thinks. 'Is someone's freedom or life worth it to prevent a war with North Korea? I would say without hesitation: Yes, of course. '

According to Snowden, a form of 'self-reliance' is required for a whistleblower. 'Ellsberg's example helped him to leak tens of thousands of classified documents about secret spy activities from the US department of NSA in 2013. Snowden is in Moscow because of his revelations to stay out of the hands of the American authorities.

'Courage is contagious,' says Ellsberg. He had not leaked the documents about the Vietnam War if not so many young Americans were locked up because of protests against the war.

By the Nixon government, Ellsberg was called 'the most dangerous man in America'. President Donald Trump called Snowden 'a terrible traitor. 'According to Ellsberg, there are still enough comparisons to make now. He states that press freedom is under pressure again. 'I think this president will prosecute journalists. 'According to him, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange may be the first journalist to be prosecuted.

There are also differences, says Ellsberg. It took him much more time to release so many documents at the time. He needed months to copy some 7000 pages 'night after night'. Snowden involved tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of documents that were stored digitally. 'That was impossible then. '

Ellsberg advises new whistleblowers to always first go to a newspaper. And only as a last resort to use the internet to publish documents.