Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/News/March 2018/Book reviews




 * By Hawkeye7

Daniel Ellsberg is best known as the whistle-blower who leaked the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret study of U.S. government decision-making in relation to the Vietnam War. The Pentagon Papers have been the subject of a recent film, The Post. Early in this book Ellsberg reveals that the Pentagon Papers were only a part of the top-secret material that he purloined and intended to reveal. Most were related to the United States' nuclear war making capabilities. Photocopies of the documents were placed in a box in a green garbage bag and cunningly hidden at the local council tip by his brother Harry. I won't spoil it for you by revealing what happened, but the documents became lost.

Now Ellsberg has attempted to write the book he wanted to write from memory, and from books and documents uncovered by others. The result is highly engaging and readable, clearly intended to be widely read, and therefore stripped of Pentagon lingo whenever possible. How much is new depends on how familiar you are with the subject. Moreover, he wrote a memoir back in 2002 called Secrets, and some parts of this book are lifted from it. There's also the odd trifling error, such as confusing the B-1 and B-70 bombers. My guess, though, is that most members of the general public will find what is contained in the book to be wholly new, as it contradicts much of what has been said in public for many years.

Much of this relates to the nature of the US strategic deterrent, including, but not restricted to: who has the authorisation to launch a nuclear strike, and who has information about war plans and intelligence. Frankly, I would be very surprised to learn that any President since Roosevelt had appropriate clearance. Nor, despite the efforts of Ellsberg, Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden, has much information been leaked to the Department of Defense or Congress. Those who have never handled classified information may be interested in descriptions of how it is handled; those who have will empathise with the trials of someone possessing important information, but unable to persuade others because the source and nature of that information is above their clearance.

Highly recommended.

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