The Most Dangerous Man in America...getting a Nobel Peace Prize?

In 1971, the Nixon administration called Daniel Ellsberg "the most dangerous man in America."  Ellsberg was a Pentagon insider who initially supported the war in Vietnam, and actually helped gained much of the intelligence needed to start the war.  In the mid to late 1960s however, Ellberg's conscience started to eat at him.  This led to Ellsberg leaking thousands of classified documents to the press which became known as "The Pentagon Papers."  The release of these papers helped greatly to influence the public opinion of the war in Vietnam, and helped to shed light on what was really happening, instead of the stories that were falsely being fed to the public.  Ultimately these papers along with the administration's response, followed shortly thereafter by the Watergate incident, led to the resignation of President Nixon.

Fastforward to present day, and now we have Julian Assange, founder of the website WikiLeaks, doing much of the same thing that Ellsberg did in the sixties.  The website has leaked thousands and thousands of classified war documents regarding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and many other foreign affairs as well.  Many critics accuse Assange of endangering the security of our troops overseas and our national security at home.  Others like Snorre Valen, who nominated Assange for the Nobel Peace Price, said Assange and Wikileaks have helped "redraw the map of information freedom."  Valen says the website's actions have helped promote "democracy and freedom of speech" and that is why he should receive the Peace Prize.

Many years later, many Americans now see Daniel Ellsberg as brave and heroic during one of America's most chaotic periods.  Many still see him as a traitor who turned the press and the public against the war effort in Vietnam.  Only time will tell how history views Julian Assange, and this ultimately begs the question: which is most important, 100% government and military transparency, or the security of the troops and defense personnel?  How much should the public know?