(The Mercury News) — “Over the decades, Ellsberg, 78, hasn’t been welcome at Rand Corp. He committed the most startling breach of security in the company’s history, walking out on Oct. 1, 1969, with the first briefcase full of classified documents destined for public release.”
Years before he leaked the Pentagon Papers, gaining the sobriquet “The most dangerous man in America,” Daniel Ellsberg was a consultant to the Department of Defense and various presidential administrations. What he learned scared him half to death.
And still does, he said in an appearance at San Francisco’s Commonwealth Club on Tuesday night.
“We hear about the two-man rule, that nothing can be done respecting nuclear weapons by one individual,” said Ellsberg, 86. The Kensington resident recently wrote a book, “The Doomsday Machine,” that deals with unsettling conversations like the one we’re having right now. “It always has to be at least two people opening an envelope, turning a safe lock, doing whatever. I found this was disobeyed in every command post that I went to.”
Click to continue reading. By Gary Peterson – UPDATED: