Daniel Ellsberg

In October 1969, Daniel Ellsberg, while working as an analyst at the RAND Corporation, began photocopying a top secret study of U.S. policy in Vietnam that later became known as the Pentagon Papers. He distributed it first to members of Congress, and then to the New York Times. Charges against him for the leaking were dropped after government misconduct—including a White House–ordered burglary of Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office—was exposed. Those same burglars, or “plumbers,” later became infamous for their role in Watergate. Wikipedia claims Ellsberg, now an academic and activist, as a role model.