It's Hard for Daniel Ellsberg to Talk About Anything But Nuclear War

Daniel Ellsberg is perhaps best known for leaking the Pentagon Papers, which showed the government's mismanagement and lies about the Vietnam War and helped turn public support against the war.

But these days, the 86-year-old Kensington resident is more concerned about a war that he worries could be coming soon: nuclear war. His new memoir, "Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner," focuses on his time as a nuclear policy analyst and his fears over the current state of nuclear armament.

While it can be tough for Ellsberg to discuss anything other than his worries over a potential nuclear war, we were also able to talk about his favorite movies and hanging out at Stinson Beach.

What is your personal doomsday scenario?

There really are the two existential dangers to our species on a large scale. The climate we're at least aware of, not that we're acting effectively or appropriately on that at all. But people have come to believe that the nuclear danger disappeared with the Cold War. Unfortunately, it didn't. Eighty percent of the weapons were dismantled. The thousands that remain are far more than enough to cause near-extinction.

Which is the greater nuclear threat: North Korea or the United States and Russia?

I think that right now Donald Trump's threats against North Korea are posing a very great threat in that it could cause North Korea madly to lash out preemptively, to try to get retaliation in before they're hit, as almost happened with Russia on more than one occasion.

There is a major danger right now of nuclear war with North Korea because Donald Trump is making threats against a nuclear weapons state for the first time in over half a century, the first time since the Cuban missile crisis 55 years ago. He is making threats of attacking a state that can retaliate with nuclear weapons.

What would you say to President Trump if you had the chance?

I can't imagine being in his presence. I think the highest hope I would have would be that the message of this book would be somehow conveyed on "Fox and Friends" and might get through to him that the nuclear forces he's in charge of cannot be used without the likelihood of mass annihilation.

What do you like to do on the weekends?

I'm a big moviegoer, and I also like to go body surfing at Stinson Beach.

What are the best movies you've seen recently?

I did see "Darkest Hour" about Churchill. Unfortunately,. I don't think the timing was wonderful because it kind of portrayed Churchill the way Donald Trump would like to think of himself right now confronting North Korea. I don't think, in fact, that North Korea does pose the danger that Hitler did pose to England at that time. So I'm not anxious for Trump to see "Darkest Hour" this month and to be Churchill-like going to war.

But I would love him to see "The Post." He might get the message about the role and necessity for a free press and the fact that in a challenge between him and a strong woman like Kay Graham of "The Post" or Meryl Streep, he may not win. The women now are speaking up for themselves in a new way that I think can confront male supremacy in a way that we haven't seen in my lifetime.

What are your favorite spots in the Bay Area?

I happen to live very close to Blake Garden, which is owned by the University of California. It's a marvelous garden. When my father was in his 90s, I would take him there and he said, 'This is heaven.' That's a particularly nice place.

I have a favorite restaurant that I go to, in Kensington, that I eat at practically every day. The best omelettes in the area. And driving out to Stinson Beach in my Miata with the top down through the redwood trees is always an awesome experience.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.