ABSTRACT
One aspect of national security, however, that is unlikely to change, whatever else may change, is the secrecy surrounding policy decisions, which will always be in play so long as there is a free press. Freedom of the press became the overriding issue, more so than the contents of the Pentagon Papers, which the press acquired and published. The press, by which is meant anybody, not only the institutionalized print and electronic press, can be prevented from publishing only in extreme and quite dire circumstances. Daniel Ellsberg, as a leading player in the Pentagon Papers pageant, brought impressive credentials. He was born in Chicago during the depression. The electronic press had the federal communications commission to reckon with, and the commission was now chaired by a Republican, Dean Burch, who had, many critics believed, intimidated the networks ever since he was appointed.
