Who the heck is this guy? Never heard of him.
he was deputy director of the FBI
http://slate.msn.com/id/2065299/
http://www.google.com/url?sa=U&start=4&q=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/watergate/fbi.htm&e=10313
Mark Felt, assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
His name used to be Linda, had an operation I guess.
It will be interesting to see how things develop. Will Felt be obliged to 'face the music' for violating (probably multiple) federal oaths, AND will Woodward, Bernstein, Bradlee and Graham be charged with obstruction of justice for having, knowingly, protected the identity of someone they knew had violated his federal oath? Unlike Ellsberg, who escaped the worst of the justice he deserved, because his psychiatrist's office had been burgled by the Administration, the 'gang of five' I have just mentioned have no such excuses.
Interestingly, Woodward was found (and reported in FR and elsewhere) to have taken an extremely curcuitous route -- worthy of a spy thriller -- when he attended Felt's 90th birthday party. Felt was known, for many years, to have answered the phone by giving his residence as that of 'Deep Throat'. Felt is quoted as having said to his son: "I don't think (being Deep Throat) was anything to be proud of, "You (should) not leak information to anyone." He's very easy on himself.
That's not unlike Alger Hiss saying something of the sort when, as Ales, he secretly accepted a Stalin Prize for his efforts to subvert the U.S. government.
He was one of the main suspects at the time.
The discussion, if he was Deep Throat, could be whether his actions bode ill or well for trust in the State. Did he fly in the face of professional ethics to promote a greater good?
NiAs in the White House tapes excerpt Chatterbox previously cited, Felt is discussed as a probable leaker. This time, though, Nixon (who, among other things, will likely be remembered as America's last anti-Semitic president) expresses horror at discovering Felt to be Jewish. This conversation, dated Oct. 19, 1972, is even more Gothic than the last:
Nixon: Well, if they've got a leak down at the FBI, why the hell can't Gray tell us what the hell is left? You know what I mean?...
Haldeman: We know what's left, and we know who leaked it.
Nixon: Somebody in the FBI?
Haldeman: Yes, sir. Mark Felt. You can't say anything about this because it will screw up our source and there's a real concern. Mitchell is the only one who knows about this and he feels strongly that we better not do anything because--
Nixon: Do anything? Never.
Haldeman: If we move on him, he'll go out and unload everything. He knows everything that's to be known in the FBI. He has access to absolutely everything ...
Nixon: What would you do with Felt?
Haldeman: Well, I asked Dean ...
Nixon: You know what I'd do with him, the bastard? Well that's all I want to hear about it.
Haldeman: I think he wants to be in the top spot.
Nixon: That's a hell of a way for him to get to the top.
Haldeman: You can figure a lot of--maybe he thought--first of all, he has to figure that if you stay in as president there's a possibility or probability Gray will stay on. If McGovern comes in, then you know Gray's going to be out ...
Nixon: Is he Catholic?
Haldeman: (unintelligible) Jewish.
President Nixon: Christ, put a Jew in there?
Haldeman: Well, that could explain it too."