At Princeton, Russo earned master’s degrees in engineering (1963) and public affairs (1964). After Princeton, he worked for the Rand Corp. Through Ellsberg, a friend and fellow Rand employee, Russo learned of a secret study, initiated by Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, of the post-1945 U.S. involvement in Vietnam, and that a copy was kept at Rand. This study revealed (among other deceits) the contrived U.S. claim of an attack in the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964, which became the justification for President Johnson’s expanding U.S. participation in the war.
A copy of the archive was shown to (and duplicated by) New York Times reporter Neil Sheehan in March 1971. Publication initially took place in June, and this prompted an unsuccessful court attempt by the Nixon administration to restrain the Times. In December 1971, Russo and Ellsberg were indicted on theft and espionage charges. The case was dismissed in May 1973, after the court learned of an illegal break-in at the offices of Ellsberg’s psychiatrist.
Russo worked for the Los Angeles County Probation Department after Rand, and retired in the early 1990s. He was married and divorced twice, and had no children.
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