Daniel Ellsberg, the defense contractor who leaked the secret history of the Vietnam War more than 50 years ago, said Thursday that he has been diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer. The former government analyst said that, after his Feb. 17 diagnosis, he’d been given a prognosis of three to six months. In a lengthy letter to friends he shared on Twitter, the 91-year-old Ellsberg wrote, “I have chosen not to do chemotherapy (which offers no promise) and I have assurance of great hospice care when needed.” He said he was not in any physical pain, and that his energy levels were high. Ellsberg then turned to reflect on the act of whistleblowing that came to define his legacy. “When I copied the Pentagon Papers in 1969, I had every reason to think I would be spending the rest of my life behind bars,” he wrote. “... Yet in the end, that action—in ways I could not have foreseen, due to Nixon’s illegal responses—did have an impact on shortening the war. In addition, thanks to Nixon’s crimes, I was spared the imprisonment I expected, and I was able to spend the last fifty years with Patricia [Marx, wife] and my family, and with you, my friends.”