by John Whitehead<\/p>\n
Daniel Ellsberg was a consultant to the US Defense Department in the 1960s. His responsibilities included, as he described it, \u201cthe design of nuclear war plans.\u201d The US nuclear war plan, which Ellsberg was involved in updating, called for the United States to initiate a nuclear strike against the Soviet Union and China, a strike that the US military estimated would kill roughly 600 million people. These deaths would occur both in the targeted countries and in neighboring countries affected by nuclear fallout.<\/p>\n
When he learned of this estimate, Ellsberg thought it was \u201cthe most evil planning that had ever existed in the history of humanity.\u201d His moral revulsion would ultimately lead him to become a passionate opponent of nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n