Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2001
From: NSARCHIVE <mevans@GWU.EDU>
Subject: Update, June 29, 2001
National Security Archive Update, June 29, 2001
*UPDATE - The Pentagon Papers: The Secret Briefs and the Secret Evidence*
Analysis by Archive Senior Fellow John Prados
http://www.nsarchive.org/NSAEBB/NSAEBB48
On June 30, 1971 the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its landmark decision in
the Pentagon Papers case, ruling that the U.S. government could not exercise
prior restraint over the publication of a secret Department of Defense study
of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, leaked to the New York Times by Rand
Corporation analyst Daniel Ellsberg.
To mark the 30th anniversary of the ruling, the National Security Archive has
posted copies of the specific documents in the Pentagon Papers that were cited
by the government in various public and secret legal papers as creating
immediate harm to U.S. national security. Archive senior fellow John Prados
has carried out an exhaustive cross-referencing project using the
recently-declassified secret briefs submitted by the government to the courts,
together with each of the various editions of the Papers, including the New
York Times paperback version (highly condensed and selective), the multivolume
Government Printing Office (GPO) version (officially declassified in late 1971
and published in 1972 while the war was still going on), Senator Mike Gravel's
edition read into a Senate subcommittee record and subsequently published by
Beacon, and the four negotiating volumes (which Daniel Ellsberg did not leak)
declassified in 1978.
Among Dr. Prados' findings are that, within a matter of months of claiming
irreparable damage from 11 specific portions cited in the Griswold secret
brief and 17 cited to the Court of Appeals, the government actually
declassified 17 of these 28 portions for the GPO edition.
The documents are available at the following URL:
http://www.nsarchive.org/NSAEBB/NSAEBB48
_______________________________________________
THE NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHIVE is an independent non-governmental research
institute and library located at The George Washington University in
Washington, D.C. The Archive collects and publishes declassified documents
acquired through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). A tax-exempt public
charity, the Archive receives no U.S. government funding; its budget is
supported by publication royalties and donations from foundations and
individuals.
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