One of the issues surrounding the recent NSA leaks is that the controversy reignited American sentiment against government working in secrecy.
Daniel Ellsberg exposed a 7,000-page Pentagon report in 1971 for nearly the same reason Edward Snowden is claiming: In an effort to expose the government's ability to perform impactful global policies with very little public knowledge.
The report was a detailed account of how the administration had manipulated the American people and Congress about facets of the Vietnam War, according to The Huffington Post.
In a 1972 interview with Reason magazine entitled "Why I did it!" Ellsberg said the American government acts in secrecy to mitigate any opportunity for the opposition to voice its opinion, and that, in essence, is unconstitutional.
"Power encroaches upon the challenges of the opposition," he said in the interview. "And officials in the executive branch, given a chance to paralyze opposition by practicing secrecy and deception, will use that power."
After leaking the NSA surveillance programs last week, Snowden has joined a small group of American whistleblowers, including Ellsberg, and Wikileaks' Bradley Manning.
Ellsberg, now 82, sat down with Huff Post Live hosts Ahmed Shihab-Eldin and Josh Zepps and said that he, just like Snowden, "chose to give priority to our oath to defend and support the Constitution, rather than our promise to keep secrets for our boss or our agency, when those secrets were concealing evidence that the Constitution was being violated."
Watch the entire interview here.
In the interview, Ellsberg said Snowden "made the right choice," adding that PRISM and the NSA's phone surveillance program is "clearly unconstitutional."
When referring to Snowden's critics who contend Snowden cared more about civil liberties than the real world threat of terrorism Ellsberg said those claims were "ridiculous." Ellsberg told Huff Post Live reporters, "Look what his job is... He joined the Army. He worked for the CIA. He worked for the NSA... That's like saying that I, Daniel Ellsberg, couldn't have trust for authority. I was in the Marine Corps, and like Snowden, I was highly promoted."
