Watergate's whistle-blower Deep Throat dies at 95

Published on Friday 19 December 2008 20:47

THE former FBI chief who revealed himself to be "Deep Throat" 30 years after he tipped off reporters to the Watergate scandal has died.

Mark Felt died, aged 95, at his home in Santa Rosa after suffering from heart failure.

His role as the informant was a secret until 2005, when the ailing FBI agent finally admitted: "I was the guy they called Deep Throat."

Even his own family was unaware of his role in the scandal that brought down President Nixon and inspired the Oscar-winning film All The President's Men.

The revelations he provided ensured that the tale of a bungled burglary at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate building in Washington grew to become a national scandal that led to the resignation of the president and prison terms for five senior White House staff.

Mr Felt, who told the Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein to "follow the money", used clandestine methods to contact the journalists, arranging secret meetings in an underground car park over two years.

After his identity was revealed in 2005, Mr Woodward said Mr Felt, who had been second in command at the FBI, had been frustrated by Nixon's attempts to undermine the investigation.

He said: "Felt believed he was protecting the bureau by finding a way, clandestine as it was, to push some of the information from the FBI interviews and files out to the public, to help build public and political pressure to make Nixon and his people answerable.

"He had nothing but contempt for the Nixon White House and their efforts to manipulate the Bureau for political reasons."