Felt was 'Deep Throat' - Post

2005-06-01 01:23

Washington - The Washington Post confirmed on Tuesday that former FBI No 2 Mark Felt was the "Deep Throat" source who helped unravel the Watergate scandal of the 1970s and bring down President Richard Nixon.

Bob Woodward, who with fellow Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein spearheaded the newspaper's Watergate coverage, said Felt had helped the newspaper "at a time of tense relations between the White House and much of the FBI hierarchy", a Post story in its internet edition said.

The newspaper's editor at the time, Ben Bradlee, said he had learned the "positional identity" of "Deep Throat" as the Washington Post was breaking its Watergate stories and had learned his name just after Nixon's resignation in August 1974.

"The number-two guy at the FBI, that was a pretty good source," Bradlee was quoted as saying.

"I knew the paper was on the right track," Bradlee added.

The "quality of the source" and the soundness of his guidance made him sure of that.

Felt's family confirmed earlier on Tuesday that the retired FBI official, now aged 91, had been "Deep Throat" - one of the best kept journalistic secrets of all time.

The Post said the Watergate break-in in January 1972 came shortly after the death of legendary FBI director J Edgar Hoover, who was Felt's mentor.

It quoted Woodward as saying that Felt had hopes of becoming the FBI director by Nixon appointed an official from his administration, Patrick Gray.

Bradlee said that over the years "it was interesting to watch people flounder around with odd choices" about the identity of "Deep Throat" - a nickname borrowed from the title of a pornographic film.

Although he knew the identity, Bradlee said: "I've never met Felt. I wouldn't know him if I fell on him."

- AFP