Former FBI official confirms he was 'Deep Throat'

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The No. 2 man in the Nixon-era FBI has announced that he was the "Deep Throat" who exposed key details of the Watergate scandal to The Washington Post more than three deaces ago.

W. Mark Felt, now 91, is the first credible senior-level official to come forward and claim to be the source of information used to bring down President Nixon, according to an article to be published in the July issue of Vanity Fair magazine.

The Post initially refused to comment on the report, but relented. The newspaper confirmed the magazine's claim late yesterday, saying Mr. Felt was "the secretive source who provided information that helped unravel the Watergate scandal."

In an interview, Ben Bradlee, former editor of The Post, noted, "The No. 2 guy at the FBI, that was a pretty good source. I knew the paper was on the right track."

Deep Throat -- named for a 1970s adult movie -- was the code name of an anonymous source said to supply Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, reporters at The Post, with details of a break-in at Democratic National Committee Headquarters in the Watergate Hotel on June 17, 1972, and subsequent cover-up. Those involved in the break-in were five men working on behalf of the campaign to re-elect Mr. Nixon.

Mr. Nixon later was vilified and ultimately resigned from office two years later.

Vanity Fair says Mr. Felt -- associate director of the FBI until June 1973 and now retired in California -- revealed his secret identity at the urging of his two children, who became privy to the fact themselves three years ago, according to Vanity Fair.

"We're very proud of him," Mr. Felt's daughter, Joan, told reporters yesterday, but she is quoted in the magazine story as saying, "Bob Woodward's going to get all the glory for this, but we could at least make some money. ... Let's do it for the family."

Although accounts in The Post and elsewhere said Mr. Felt was motivated to leak the break-in story because he had been passed over for the top FBI job by Mr. Nixon, his family cast their relative in heroic terms.

Grandson Nick Jones said his grandfather was "a great American hero who went well and above the call of duty at much risk to himself to save his country from a terrible injustice."