After Mr. Hoover died, Nixon named L. Patrick Grey as Director of the FBI. Grey was a political hack who would do Nixon's bidding. Mark Felt as the No. 2 man in the FBI and the top career FBI man, was loyal to Mr. Hoover's legacy and to the FBI. However, unlike Mr. Hoover, Mark Felt did not have the position, popularity or political power to just tell Nixon "no." Lacking other means, Mark Felt simply did what he had to do to keep Nixon from misusing the FBI.

Pat Buchanan's comments have been way off base. He has to have known that this was a fight between Nixon, who was intent on using the FBI for political gain, and Mr. Hoover and Mark Felt, who were intent on stopping him. It is sophistry to suggest that Felt only went to Woodward out of spite for not being chosen as Mr. Hoover's successor.

Comments about Felt authorizing wiretaps of "Vietnam War protestors" are also way off base. They are also offensive. The wiretaps were on members of the Weather Underground. The Weather Underground was a terrorist off-shoot of the SDS, which bombed buildings and killed people. The political and legal environment made it very difficult to track and infiltrate such groups, and it had been only a few years since wiretaps did not require a court order. My uncle was an FBI agent in Soviet Counter-Intelligence at that time, and my father, as a ex-agent, received materials from the FBI and the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI, which I read. I can tell you that the Weather Underground also had strong Soviet ties and a commitment to overthrow the United States Government.

Some may disagree with Mark Felt's tactics, but it is wrong to impugn his motives in the wiretaps. I would also suggest that what Felt did was absolutely necessary to protect the country from more terrorist bombings. I would also note that the convictions were on appeal when President Reagan pardoned him. There is some doubt as to whether the convictions would have been upheld.

Mark Felt's book is very enlightening in this matter. In addition, as noted, I am from an FBI family. My father is an ex-agent and my uncle was an agent in Washington, D.C. at the time all of this occurred.

oh boy...

anyways, it's funny to hear Liddy, Buchanan, and the others talking about Felt. Liddy especially, since as far as i know, if he and his boys hadn't partaken in a bit of shadiness, Deepthroat kind of, sort of, wouldn't even had existed.

...and no, it wasn't Linda Loveless. So back in the early seventies, this FBI agent screwed the Nixon administration by...

Initially upon hearing the news that "Deep Throat" was revealed I was like "cool!" then a minute later after seeing the old guy on TV I was like "who gives a fuck". If you really care to read more on...

Today has been so hellaciously busy that the morning run-down got postponed to the afternoon and then to the evening. Before the day gets away I think there are a few things worth a look at: Marc Schulman of American...

(UPDATED) FORMER FBI OFFICIAL MARK FELT claims he was "Deep Throat," the inside source that helped The Washington Post break the story of the Watergate cover-up. Felt said he was "only doing his duty" and did not seek to bring...

The other day at Jawapalooza in D.C. this chick comes over to the table and starts talking to us. After a few minutes she asks what we're doing there and so I say, "I'm deep throat." For some odd reason...

"The Walrus"

"Cindy Brady and the lesson of the Tattle Tale"

"Bobby's Meal Ticket"

"That Information Leaker Guy"

"Fuck Liddy and His Gang of Military-Industrial Complex Thugs"

"Feltsi...

The news has come as a shock to most media observers, who are surprised to see that such an important source of the Watergate story turned out to be legitimate. It has long been believed that Woodward and Bernstein just made up Deep Throat out of who...

Looking back upon Watergate and all that led up to Nixon’s resignation, I am forced to wonder that if similar events were to play out today, would we even listen?