Electronic Frontier Foundation and Freedom of the Press co-founder JP Barlow just tweeted that, after leaving EFF's offices, famous whistleblower Dan Ellsberg discovered he was robbed of two suitcases.
If you're near #EFF at 815 Eddy St. in SF, look for two rifled suitcases. @DanielEllsberg was just hit with a smash 'n' grab.
— John Perry Barlow (@JPBarlow) November 26, 2013
EFF and Freedom of the Press' Trevor Timm:
@onekade They smashed his car window and took the two suitcases. Had his computer and medicines too. Luckily he was inside @EFF and unhurt.
— Trevor Timm (@trevortimm) November 26, 2013
This 'smash 'n' grab' of the suitcases took place, according to journalist and Freedom of the Press board member Glenn Greenwald, while Ellsberg participated in a Freedom of the Press board meeting, which took place over a conference call.
@onekade We just had a Board call for Freedom of the Press Foundation – that's what he was leaving. Robbing Ellsberg = centuries in hell.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) November 26, 2013
As Barlow observed, it wasn't the first time Ellsberg has been robbed.
Not the first time someone has broken into @DanielEllsberg's life…
— John Perry Barlow (@JPBarlow) November 26, 2013
Back in 1971, after Ellsberg had leaked the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times, intelligence officials plotted a break-in at the whistleblower's psychiatrist's office. The mission: to uncover information about Ellsberg that would discredit him in the eyes of the American public. The mission failed, and the break-in was one of the principle reasons why Ellsberg didn't go to prison for blowing the whistle on the Vietnam war.
Information is power. I wonder who wanted to get their hands on the information in Ellsberg's briefcases, and why. Maybe we'll never know. Or maybe someday one of the people involved in the robbery will write a New York Times opinion piece about it.
UPDATE: Lots of people are telling me, via twitter, that the neighborhood his car was parked in experiences a lot of this type of property crime.