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I'm still processing it, and will be for some time, but my current opinion after a quick review is that the complete Watergate dynamic involved several parties, Felt being only one, and if Felt was Deep Throat (or at least one major component of "Deep Throat") his motives for talking to Woodward may have been different from the motives of some of the other parties involved. The original break-in was organized by people with a CIA background (whether they were actually working for the CIA or someone else at the time is a question I don't know the answer to), and I don't see any evidence so far that Felt was in on that end of it. Felt seems to step into the picture after the Watergate burglars were arrested, which led to the FBI becoming aware of the CIA background of the burglars. This triggered a three-way interplay between 1) the CIA's desire to avoid involvement in the investigation, 2) the FBI investigators' desire to elicit information from CIA about the background of the burglars (and it's unclear to me to what degree Acting Director Gray--who had a background working on Nixon's campaigns rather than a background as a Hoover FBI insider like Felt--shared this desire, but at least Felt and others on the case seem to have been geared in this direction), and 3) the White House's attempt to protect Nixon from potential fallout by pressuring the CIA not to cooperate with the FBI and pressuring the FBI not to pursue the CIA angle. In addition to these factors, there are indicators of the antiwar movement and the Democrats, especially Ted Kennedy, trying to exploit the investigation for the purpose of bringing Nixon down (and no doubt the KGB and Castro had their two cents to contribute on this end of it). At this point I tend to think if Felt talked to Woodward his motive involved the FBI-CIA issue rather than the antiwar/Democrat/Kennedy agenda against Nixon, and he may have been using Woodward towards that ulterior motive, whereas Woodward's superiors at the Post seem more likely motivated by pro-Democrat/anti-Nixon political partisanship. It's quite possible Felt may have had some additional agenda beyond that which needs to be factored in here, but based on what I've read so far, that's my current general take, anyway, FWIW.