Mark Felt, the FBI’s deputy director after J. Edgar Hoover’s death in May 1972, occupied a central position in two major abuses of federal investigative power. During the early-1970s investigation of the Weather Underground, Felt and Attorney General John Mitchell were accused of authorizing illegal break-ins, warrantless wiretaps, and mail interceptions targeting people believed to be associated with the group. The resulting prosecution collapsed after the court found that FBI investigative methods had violated constitutional rights. In 1980, Felt was convicted of authorizing agents to enter and search private homes without warrants; President Ronald Reagan pardoned him while his appeal was pending.
At the same time, Felt secretly supplied Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein with information about the FBI’s Watergate investigation. He became the source known as “Deep Throat,” helping expose links between the June 17, 1972 burglary, President Richard Nixon’s campaign operation, and the White House effort to obstruct the investigation. Woodward confirmed Felt’s identity after Felt disclosed it to Vanity Fair in 2005. The reporting contributed to the political crisis that culminated in Nixon’s resignation on August 9, 1974, while Felt’s conduct remains an example of both unlawful surveillance and insider disclosure of executive misconduct.
