Mark Felt Ends 30-Year Mystery of The Post's Watergate Source

FBI's No. 2 Was 'Deep Throat'
Mark Felt Ends 30-Year Mystery of The Post's Watergate Source

By David Von Drehle
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 1, 2005; Page A01

Deep Throat, the secret source whose insider guidance was vital to The Washington Post's groundbreaking coverage of the Watergate scandal, was a pillar of the FBI named W. Mark Felt, The Post confirmed yesterday.

As the bureau's second- and third-ranking official during a period when the FBI was battling for its independence against the administration of President Richard M. Nixon, Felt had the means and the motive to help uncover the web of internal spies, secret surveillance, dirty tricks and coverups that led to Nixon's unprecedented resignation on Aug. 9, 1974, and to prison sentences for some of Nixon's highest-ranking aides.