Daniel Ellsberg, leaker of the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times in 1971.

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Nixon wanted to use the media to "destroy" the leaker of the papers, Daniel Ellsberg, a former Defense Department official.

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At one of its major 2008 conferences, for instance, the ACLU invited Daniel Ellsberg, the former Rand Corporation official who leaked the top secret Pentagon Papers regarding US involvement in Vietnam to The New York Times in 1971 to serve as it keynote speaker.

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The grand jury that has convened in Alexandria, Virginia to decide whether Assange will be indicted in the U.S. has yet to make public any charges against him, but some have speculated on and called for his indictment under the same Espionage Act once used to prosecute Daniel Ellsberg for leaking the Pentagon Papers.

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