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

FORBES: WikiLeaks: Why It Matters...Or Maybe It Doesn't

Lieberman says the Pentagon Papers case was wrongly decided, and that the New York Times should have been culpable.

FORBES: WikiLeaks: Why It Matters...Or Maybe It Doesn't

Ellsberg says there has been some discussion that implies the Pentagon Papers leak was good but that WikiLeaks is bad.

FORBES: WikiLeaks: Why It Matters...Or Maybe It Doesn't

In 1971, as a freshman senator critical of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, Gravel released 4, 100 pages of the Pentagon Papers and facilitated their publication.

FORBES: Democrat - Senator, Alaska

The Pentagon Papers was another leak that had a major impact.

BBC: The history of US leaks

"She was one of the greatest citizens of our country of the past half-century, " said Robert McNamara, defense secretary under Kennedy and Johnson who was a major Vietnam policy maker during the period chronicled by the Pentagon Papers.

CNN: Legendary Washington Post chief Kay Graham dies

He said she would be most remembered for two events: publishing the Pentagon Papers in 1971 even after the New York Times was told it couldn't, and for hiring Bradlee and backing him up during the Watergate scandal.

CNN: Legendary Washington Post chief Kay Graham dies

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.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: A cautionary tale

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.

FORBES: Why Julian Assange Might Be Better Off In Sweden