Daniel Ellsberg and John Dean on Whistleblowing and the Perils of Abusing Power

What lessons do the Vietnam War, Watergate, and the “war on terror” offer about the abuse of power by the executive branch in times of national crisis?

At a recent event, Daniel Ellsberg, the RAND strategist whose leak of the Pentagon Papers helped bring down the Nixon presidency and end the Vietnam War, and John Dean, White House counsel to Nixon and later a key whistle-blower on the Watergate scandal, discussed the perils of presidential overreach and excessive secrecy then and now.

In addition, filmmakers Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith presented clips from their documentary The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers.

Watch video of the event above, or listen to audio below.