[sixties-l] The Pentagon Papers: The Secret Briefs and the Secret Evidence

From: radman (resist@best.com)
Date: Sat Jun 30 2001 - 04:10:06 EDT

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    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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