Abstract

As I watched on the evening news a frail, but clearly pleased, W. Mark Felt, the former number two official of the FBI, enjoying public recognition for the role he played as "Deep Throat" in bringing the Nixon administration to justice, I was glad that he decided not to take his secret to the grave. The least our country owed him were a few moments in the national spotlight.

But the recognition of Felt's achievement did not just speak to the past. It was also a stark reminder of how today's reporters need the legal right not to disclose the names of their confidential sources. Thirty-two years later, those who went to prison for the role they played in the Watergate conspiracy are still angry with Felt. Interviewed on the day Felt's identity as Deep Throat was disclosed, Charles Colson, the special counsel to Richard Nixon, who served seven months in prison for participating in the Watergate cover-up, told the press Felt should not have been "sneaking around dark alleys and talking to reporters."

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