The Washington Post has confirmed that the infamous secret source known as Deep Throat is a former FBI agent. W. Mark Felt, the No. 2 man at the bureau during the contentious Watergate investigations, was revealed as the source in an article in Vanity Fair released Tuesday.
Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein had long vowed to keep the source's name a secret until his death. The revelations from Felt fueled the pair's reporting during a tumultuous time that resulted in the resignation of President Richard Nixon in August 1974.
The Post's executive editor at the time, Ben Bradlee, said tonight that Felt's senior position at the FBI meant, "I knew the paper was on the right track."
In an article on the Post Web site, Woodward acknowledged the central role Felt had played. He aided the disclosure of crimes orchestrated by President Nixon's inner circle -- from the break-in at Democratic headquarters to electoral fraud and a conspiracy to cover up their crimes.
California lawyer John D. O'Connor befriended Felt, now 91, and wrote an article for the July issue of Vanity Fair. Felt had previously denied that he had been Woodward's source.
But O'Connor wrote that on several occasions, Felt told him, "I'm the guy they used to call Deep Throat."
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