Which documents outlined U.S. activity in Vietnam and Southeast Asia and were published after being leaked by Daniel Ellsberg in 1971?

• A. Pentagon Papers
• B. Palomares incident (1966)
• C. Paris Charter (1990)
• D. Paris Peace Accords (1973)

Answer: (A)

Pentagon Papers were a top-secret Defense Department study that laid out U.S. involvement in Vietnam and the wider Southeast Asia region, detailing how decisions were made, what was known, and what was promised to the public versus what was being done in private. Daniel Ellsberg leaked these documents in 1971 to newspapers like The New York Times, sparking a major public debate about government transparency, accountability, and the strategy of the Vietnam War. The other options don’t fit: the Palomares incident was a 1966 nuclear-weapons accident, not a leaked set of documents; the Paris Charter issued around 1990 is unrelated to Vietnam; and the Paris Peace Accords (1973) were a peace agreement, not a leaked compilation of government papers published in 1971.