Mark Felt, whose Deep Throat identity was revealed in 2005, has died, aged 95, at his home in Santa Rosa, California.
Felt was Associate Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) during the early period of Watergate. He started providing information and guidance to Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward in 1972.
Referred to initially as “my friend” by Woodward, Felt was nicknamed Deep Throat, a reference to a pornographic movie of the time.
The former deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, W. Mark Felt, has been identified as Deep Throat by Vanity Fair magazine. The revelation has been confirmed by Bob Woodward in the Washington Post.
Deep Throat, the anonymous source who provided Watergate information to the Washington Post’s Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, is reportedly close to death.
The claim is made in an article by John Dean, the former White House counsel to Richard Nixon, in an article in the Los Angeles Times. Dean was jailed for his part in Watergate. More recently, he is the author of Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush.
Deep Throat was John Sears, according to a new book by Leonard Garment. Sears was a campaign worker for Richard Nixon who went to work in the White House, later becoming a Republican Party strategist, working for Ronald Reagan. The allegation by Garment is denied by Sears.
Speaking on the NBC "Today" program, Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward said that Deep Throat was still alive. Woodward also said he was still in contact with Deep Throat and would only reveal the person's name when he died.