RAND Statement on Death of Daniel Ellsberg

The RAND Corporation notes the passing of Daniel Ellsberg, who died today. Ellsberg worked at RAND between 1958 and 1970.

Ellsberg, a military veteran and economic theorist, was part of a team of analysts engaged by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in 1967 to explore why the U.S. had not succeeded in Vietnam and what lessons could be learned.

In 1969, Ellsberg smuggled a copy of the classified report, “United States-Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense,” out of RAND. After he leaked it to the New York Times in 1971, the study became known as the Pentagon Papers. Ellsberg had left RAND in 1970.

For more about this period in RAND's history see: https://www.rand.org/pubs/corporate_pubs/CP564.html.