Say Anything Blog

Hmm...

MSNBC - W. Mark Felt, who retired from the FBI after rising to its second most senior position, has identified himself as the "Deep Throat" source quoted by The Washington Post to break the Watergate scandal that led to President Nixon's resignation, Vanity Fair magazine said Tuesday.

I'm the guy they used to call Deep Throat," he told John D. O'Connor, the author of Vanity Fair's exclusive that appears in its July issue.

Felt, now 91 and living in Santa Rosa, Calif. reportedly gave O'Connor permission to disclose his identity.

"The Felt family cooperated fully, providing old photographs for the story and agreeing to sit for portraits," Vanity Fair stated in a press release.

Felt has long been suspected of being Deep Throat, so this isn't a shocking revelation, but it is interesting. A while back we were told by Woodward and Bernstein that Deep Throat was gravely ill and may have been dying. The article doesn't mention any corresponding health complications afflicting Mr. Felt.

This part is especially interesting:

Carl Bernstein, who with Bob Woodward broke the story as Washington Post reporters, issued a statement neither denying nor confirming Felt's claim. Bernstein stated he and Woodward would be keeping their pledge to reveal the source only once that person dies.

Why would Woodward and Bernstein continue to keep that pledge if the real Deep Throat has revealed himself? I'm guess that its either because the two would like to keep as much of the mystery surrounding their most famous story as they can in place for as long as possible or because Mr. Felt is not the real Deep Throat.

Update:

James Joyner has link to a PDF of the Vanity Fair article. The article makes reference to Felt's declining health, so that matches up with what Woodward and Bernstein have told us before. However, I still find the refusal to endorse Felt's claim odd.

Update:

MSNBC has the Washington Post confirming Felt as Deep Throat in an article that also contains this tid-bit of heart-warming information.

Felt had expressed reservations in the past about revealing his identity, and about whether his actions were appropriate for an FBI man, his grandson said.

According to the article, Felt once told his son, Mark Jr., that he did not believe being Deep Throat "was anything to be proud of. ... You (should) not leak information to anyone."

His family members thought otherwise, and persuaded him to talk about his role in the Watergate scandal, saying he deserves to receive accolades before his death. His daughter, Joan, argued that he could "make enough money to pay some bills, like the debt I've run up for the children's education."

I hesitate to opine about the way Felt and his family made is decision, but that comment from his daughter struck me as rather crass.