DOCSLIB.ORG

FBI Official Was 'Deep Throat' Post Confirms W Mark Felt Aided Its Reporting on Watergate

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
FBI Official Was 'Deep Throat' Post Confirms W Mark Felt Aided Its Reporting on Watergate FBI Official Was 'Deep Throat' Post Confirms W Mark Felt Aided Its Reporting on Watergate By DAVID VON NUMB Washington Post Staff Writer Deep Throat, the secret source whose insider guidance was vital to The Washington Post's ground- breaking coverage of the Watergate scandal, was a pillar of the FBI named W. Mark Felt, The Post con- firmed yesterday. As the number two man at the bu- reau during a period when the FBI was battling for its independence against the administration of Presi- dent Richard M. Nixon, Felt had the means and the motive to help un- cover the web of internal spies, se- cret surveillance, dirty tricks and coverups that led to Nixon's unprec- edented resignation on Aug. 9, 1974, and to prison sentences for some of Nixon's highest-ranking aides. Felt's identity as Washington's most celebrated secret source has been an object of speculation for more than 30 years until yesterday, when his role was revealed in a Van- ity Fair magazine article. Even Nix- on was caught on tape speculating that Felt was an informer" as early as February 1973, at a time when Deep Throat was actively supplying confirmation and context for some of The Post's most explosive Wa- tergate stories. But Felt's repeated denials, and IT Bef MAR= — ASSOCIATED MESS W. Mark Felt, with daughter Joan, broke a three-decade silence about his involvement in bringing down the Nixon administration. See DEEP THROAT, A6, Cot 1 DEEP THROAT. From AI the stalwart silence of the reporters he aided — Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein — kept the cloak of mys- tery drawn up around Deep Throat. In place of a name and a face, the source acquired a magic and a mys- tique. He was the romantic truth teller The secrecy held through some half hidden in the shadows of a amazing twists of fate. In 1980, Felt Washington parking garage. This and another senior FBI veteran were image was rendered indelibly by the convicted of conspiring a decade dramatic best-selling memoir Wood- earlier to violate the civil rights of ward and Bernstein published in domestic dissidents in the Weather 1974, "All the President's Men." Underground movement; President Two years later, in a blockbuster Ronald Reagan then issued a par- movie by the same name, actor Hal don. Holbrook breathed whispery urgen- Yesterday, however, Vanity Fair cy into the suspenseful late-night en- released an article by a California counters between Woodward and lawyer named John D. O'Connor, his source. who was enlisted by Felt's daughter, For many Americans under 40, Joan Felt, to help coax her father this is the most potent distillation of into admitting his role in history. the complicated brew that was Wa- O'Connor's article quoted a number tergate. Students who lack the time of Felt's friends and family members or interest to follow each element of saying that he had shared his secret the scandal's slow unraveling quick- with them, and went on to say that ly digest the vivid relationship of a Felt told the author — under the nervous insider guiding a relentless shield of attorney-client privilege - reporter. As dramatic as those por- "I'm the guy they used to call Deep trayals were, they hewed closely to Throat." the truth, Woodward said. O'Connor wrote that he was re- "Mark Felt at that time was a leased from his obligation of secrecy dashing gray-haired figure," Wood- by Mark and Joan Felt. He also re- ward said, and his experience as an ported that the Felt family was not anti-Nazi spy hunter early in his ca- paid for cooperating with the Vanity reer at the FBI had endowed him Fair article, though they do hope the with a whole bag of counterintelli- sive intervention of a umainum. revelation will "make at least enough gence tricks. Felt dreamed up the U.S. Supreme Court. money to pay some bills," as Joan signal by which Woodward would "Felt's role in all this can be over- Felt is quoted in the magazine. summon him to a meeting (a flower- stated," said Bernstein, who went Woodward and others at The Post pot innocuously displayed on the re- on after Watergate to a career of were caught by surprise. Woodward porter's balcony) and also hatched books, magazine articles and televi- had known that Felt's family was the countersign by which Felt could sion investigations. "When we considering going public; in fact, contact Woodward (a clock face ink- wrote the book, we didn't think his they had talked repeatedly with ed on Page 20 of Woodward's daily role would achieve such mythical di- Woodward about the possibility of New York Times). mensions. You see there that Felt/ jointly writing a book to reveal the "He knew he was taking a monu- Deep Throat largely confirmed in- news. An e-mail from Felt's family mental risk," said Woodward, now formation we had already gotten over the Memorial Day weekend an assistant managing editor of The from other sources." continued to hold out the idea that Post whose catalogue of prizewin- Felt, 91 and enfeebled by a stroke, Woodward and Felt would disclose ning and best-selling work has been lives in California, his memory the secret together. built on the sort of confidential rela- dimmed. For decades. Woodward, Throughout those contacts, tionships be maintained with Deep Bernstein and Benjamin C. Bradlee, Woodward was dogged by reserva- Throat. Felt also knew, by firsthand The Post's executive editor during tions about Felt's mental condition, experience, that Nixon's adminis- the Watergate coverage, maintained he said yesterday, wondering wheth- tration was willing to use wiretaps that they would not disclose his er the source was competent to undo and break-ins to hunt down leakers, identity until after his death. "We've the long-standing pledge of ano- so no amount of caution was too kept that secret because we keep our nymity that bound them. great. word." Woodward said. Caught flatfooted by Vanity Fair's Indeed, the mystery came to ob- scure the many other elements that went into the Watergate story - other sources, other investigators, high-impact Senate hearings, a shocking trove of secret White House tape recordings, and the deci- announcement, Woodward and ing class at the University of Illinois Bernstein initially issued a terse compiled what professor Bill Gaines statement reaffirming their promise believed to be a definitive case that to keep the secret until Deep Throat Deep Throat was the deputy White died. But the Vanity Fair article was House counsel, Fred F. Fielding. enough to bring the current exec- Those findings were publicized utive editor of. The Post, Leonard around the world. Perhaps the most Downie Jr., back to Washington insightful argument was mustered in from a corporate retreat in Mary- the Atlantic magazine by journalist land. After consulting with Wood- Jim Mann in 1992. "He could well ward. Bernstein and Bradlee, "the have been Mark Felt," Mann wrote newspaper decided that the newspa- cautiously in a piece that laid bare per had been released from its obli- the institutional reasons why FBI gation by Mark Felt's family and by loyalists came to fear and resent Nix- his lawyer, through the publication on's presidency. of this piece," Downie said. "They Felt fended off the searchlight revealed him as the source. We con- each time it swung in his direction. firmed it." "I never leaked information to Downie praised Woodward's will- Woodward and Bernstein or to any- ingness to abide by his pledge even one else!" he wrote in his 1979 mem- while the Felt family was exploring oir. "The FBI Pyramid." "what many people would view as a scoop." "This demonstrates clearly the In an article being prepared for lengths to which Bob and this news- Thursday's Washington Post, Wood- paper will go to protect sources and ward will detail the "accident of his- a confidential relationship," Downie tory" that connected a young report- said. er fresh from the suburbs to a man Bradlee said he was amazed that whom many FBI agents considered the mystery had lasted through the the best choice to succeed the leg- decades. "What would you think the endary J. Edgar Hoover as director odds were that this town could keep of the bureau. Woodward and Felt that secret for this long?" he said. met by chance, he said, but their It wasn't for lack of sleuths. "Who friendship quickly became a source was Deep Throat?" has been among of information for the reporter. On the most compelling questions of May 15, 1972, presidential candi- modern American history, dissected date George Wallace was shot by a in books, in films, on the Internet, would-be assassin, Arthur H. Brem- and in thousands of articles and hun- er, on a parking lot in Laurel. dreds of television programs. Virtu- Eager to break news on a local sto- ally every figure in the Nixon admin- ry of major national importance, istration, from Henry A. Kissinger Woodward contacted Felt for in- to Patrick J. Buchanan to Diane formation on the FBI's investiga- Sawyer, has been nominated for the tion. Unlike many in the bureau, Felt role — sometimes by other Nixon was known to talk with reporters, veterans. Former White House coun- and he provided Woodward with a sel John W. Dean III, who tried to series of front-page nuggets - cover up Watergate on Nixon's in- though not with his name attached.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Transcript of a Recording of a Meeting Between the President and John Dean on February 27, 1973, from 3:55 to 4:20 P.M
    TRANSCRIPT OF A RECORDING OF A MEETING BETWEEN THE PRESIDENT AND JOHN DEAN ON FEBRUARY 27, 1973, FROM 3:55 TO 4:20 P.M. TRANSCRIPT OF A RECORDTNG OF A MEETING BETWEEN THE PRESIDENT AND JOHN DEAN ON FEBRUARY 27, 1973, FROM 3:55 TO 4:20 P.M. PRESIDENT: Good afternoon, John, how are you? DEAN: Pretty good. PRESIDENT: I, uh, discarded some (unintelligible) won't interrupt us (unintelligible) uh, uh, did you get your talk with Kleindienst yet? DEAN: I just had a good talk with him. PRESIDENT: Yeah, fine. Have you got him, uh, positioned properly, the uh-- DEAN: I think, I think he is. PRESIDENT: (Unintelligible) properly--ah, has he talked yet to Baker? DEAN: No, he hasn't, he, uh, he called Sam Ervin and offered to come visit with both he and Baker. And, uh, that was done last week. PRESIDENT: Uh, huh. DEAN: But he thought that timing would be bad to call Baker prior to the joint meeting. So he says after I have that joint meeting, I'll start working my relationship with Baker. PRESIDENT: Well, Baker left with me that he was going to, going to set up a joint meeting well, anyway (unintelligible). I see. So Kleindienst has talked to, uh, uh, he has talked to Ervin and Ervin said-- (unintelligible). DEAN: Ervin has left it dangling and said, "I'll be back in touch with you.” Uh, I think-, what, what disturbs Me a little bit about Baker was his move to put his own man in as minority counsel, so quickly, without any consultation as he had promised consultation.
    [Show full text]
  • The Watergate Story (Washingtonpost.Com)
    The Watergate Story (washingtonpost.com) Hello corderoric | Change Preferences | Sign Out TODAY'S NEWSPAPER Subscribe | PostPoints NEWS POLITICS OPINIONS BUSINESS LOCAL SPORTS ARTS & GOING OUT JOBS CARS REAL RENTALS CLASSIFIEDS LIVING GUIDE ESTATE SEARCH: washingtonpost.com Web | Search Archives washingtonpost.com > Politics> Special Reports 'Deep Throat' Mark Felt Dies at 95 The most famous anonymous source in American history died Dec. 18 at his home in Santa Rosa, Calif. "Whether ours shall continue to be a government of laws and not of men is now before Congress and ultimately the American people." A curious crime, two young The courts, the Congress and President Nixon refuses to After 30 years, one of reporters, and a secret source a special prosecutor probe release the tapes and fires the Washington's best-kept known as "Deep Throat" ... the burglars' connections to special prosecutor. A secrets is exposed. —Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox after his Washington would be the White House and decisive Supreme Court firing, Oct. 20, 1973 changed forever. discover a secret taping ruling is a victory for system. investigators. • Q&A Transcript: John Dean's new book "Pure Goldwater" (May 6, 2008) • Obituary: Nixon Aide DeVan L. Shumway, 77 (April 26, 2008) Wg:1 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/watergate/index.html#chapters[6/14/2009 6:06:08 PM] The Watergate Story (washingtonpost.com) • Does the News Matter To Anyone Anymore? (Jan. 20, 2008) • Why I Believe Bush Must Go (Jan. 6, 2008) Key Players | Timeline | Herblock
    [Show full text]
  • Transcript Prepared by the Impeachment Inquiry Staff for the House Judiciary Committee of a Recording of a Meeting Amongthe President, John Dean, John Ehrlichman, H.R
    TRANSCRIPT PREPARED BY THE IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY STAFF FOR THE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE OF A RECORDING OF A MEETING AMONGTHE PRESIDENT, JOHN DEAN, JOHN EHRLICHMAN, H.R. HALDEMAN AND JOHN MITCHELL ON MARCH 22, 1973, FROM 1:57 TO 3:43 P.M. July 3, 1974 TRANSCRIPT PREPARED BY THE IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY STAFF FOR THE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE OF A RECORDING OF A MEETING AMONG THE PRESIDENT, JOHN DEAN, JOHN EHRLICHMAN, H.R. HALDEMAN AND JOHN MITCHELL ON MARCH 22, 1973, FROM 1:57 TO 3:43 P.M.* PRESIDENT: Hello John, how are you? [Unintelligible] MITCHELL: Mr. President [unintelligible] Nixon. Mr. President, I'm just great. How are you? PRESIDENT: You Wall Street lawyer -- MITCHELL: Yeah. I would hope that would be okay. UNIDENTIFIED: I think so. Yeah. You have to admit it, have to admit you're rich. MITCHELL: Not in front of all these people that help to collect taxes. PRESIDENT: Well, we'll spend them for what you want. [Unintelligible] MITCHELL: But I, I can report, incidentally, that the firm is doing quite well. PRESIDENT: Are they? EHRLICHMAN: Can't think of any reason why it shouldn't. MITCHELL: I don't either. ________________ *The quotation marks used in this transcript are for convenience and do not indicate verbatim quotation by the speaker. EHRLICHMAN: I assigned the log [unintelligible] on Saturday. PRESIDENT: Yes, we know. EHRLICHMAN: Eastland is going to postpone any further hearings on Gray for two weeks. Try and let things cool off a little bit. He thinks Gray is dead on the floor. PRESIDENT: [Unintelligible] HALDEMAN: Gray's the symbol of wisdom, today, he accused your Counsel of being a liar.
    [Show full text]
  • John Mitchell and the Crimes of Watergate Reconsidered Gerald Caplan Pacific Cgem Orge School of Law
    University of the Pacific Scholarly Commons McGeorge School of Law Scholarly Articles McGeorge School of Law Faculty Scholarship 2010 The akM ing of the Attorney General: John Mitchell and the Crimes of Watergate Reconsidered Gerald Caplan Pacific cGeM orge School of Law Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/facultyarticles Part of the Legal Biography Commons, and the President/Executive Department Commons Recommended Citation 41 McGeorge L. Rev. 311 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the McGeorge School of Law Faculty Scholarship at Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in McGeorge School of Law Scholarly Articles by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Book Review Essay The Making of the Attorney General: John Mitchell and the Crimes of Watergate Reconsidered Gerald Caplan* I. INTRODUCTION Shortly after I resigned my position as General Counsel of the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department in 1971, I was startled to receive a two-page letter from Attorney General John Mitchell. I was not a Department of Justice employee, and Mitchell's acquaintance with me was largely second-hand. The contents were surprising. Mitchell generously lauded my rather modest role "in developing an effective and professional law enforcement program for the District of Columbia." Beyond this, he added, "Your thoughtful suggestions have been of considerable help to me and my colleagues at the Department of Justice." The salutation was, "Dear Jerry," and the signature, "John." I was elated. I framed the letter and hung it in my office.
    [Show full text]
  • JUNE 10, 2019 Chairman Nadler, Ranking Member Collins, the Last
    STATEMENT OF JOHN W. DEAN U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY HEARINGS: “LESSONS FROM THE MUELLER REPORT: PRESIDENTIAL OBSTRUCTION AND OTHER CRIMES.” JUNE 10, 2019 Chairman Nadler, Ranking Member Collins, the last time I appeared before your committee was July 11, 1974, during the impeachment inquiry of President Richard Nixon. Clearly, I am not here as a fact witness. Rather I accepted the invitation to appear today because I hope I can give a bit of historical context to the Mueller Report. In many ways the Mueller Report is to President Trump what the so-called Watergate “Road Map” (officially titled “Grand Jury Report and Recommendation Concerning Transmission of Evidence to the House of Representatives”) was to President Richard Nixon. Stated a bit differently, Special Counsel Mueller has provided this committee a road map. The Mueller Report, like the Watergate Road Map, conveys findings, with supporting evidence, of potential criminal activity based on the work of federal prosecutors, FBI investigators, and witness testimony before a federal grand jury. The Mueller Report explains – in Vol. II, p. 1 – that one of the reasons the Special Counsel did not make charging decisions relating to obstruction of justice was because he did not want to “potentially preempt [the] constitutional processes for addressing presidential misconduct.” The report then cites at footnote 2: “See U.S. CONST. ART. I § 2, cl. 5; § 3, cl. 6; cf. OLC Op. at 257-258 (discussing relationship between impeachment and criminal prosecution of a sitting President).” Today, you are focusing on Volume II of the report.
    [Show full text]
  • Notable Alumni in Journalism, Publishing and Print Media
    Notable Alumni in Journalism, Publishing and Print Media UNION IN THE WORLD Paul Andrews ’71, technology Kenneth Gilpin ’72, economics writer (U.S. News & World Report, reporter, The New York Times The New York Times) Richard Roth ’70, award-winning Andrea Barrett ’74, writer; National television journalist, CBS News; won Book Award winner (Ship Fever and the RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award Other Stories, 1996); Pulitzer Prize for and two Emmy Awards Fiction finalist (Servants of the Map, 2003); recipient, MacArthur Fellowship Howard Simons ’51, managing ‘Genius Grant’ (2001) director of the Washington Post during Watergate coverage Nicole Beland ’96, executive editor of Cosmopolitan magazine; Scott Stedman ’99, founder, columnist for Men’s Health The L Magazine magazine; freelance writer Kate White ’72, editor-in-chief, Phil Beuth ’54, former president of Cosmopolitan magazine; author; morning and late night programming Hearst Corp. executive on ABC; one of the creators of the Capital Cities broadcast empire, which John Howard Payne 1806–1808, poet, acquired ABC in the mid-1980s playwright, actor and creator of the popular song “Home! Sweet Home!” John Bigelow 1835, managing editor and co-owner of the New York Evening Dylan Ratigan ’94, host of MSNBC’s The Post with poet William Cullen Bryant; Dylan Ratigan Show and former global anti-slavery activist; consul-general managing editor for corporate finance and minister to France under President at Bloomberg News. Developed more Lincoln. Noted author and co-founder than half a dozen broadcast and new of the New York Public Library media properties, including CNBC’s Fast Money. Richard Ferguson ’67, vice president and co-chief operating officer, Cox Radio, Inc.; former president and co-owner, NewCity Communications Union College 807 Union Street, Schenectady, NY 12308 518.388.6180 WWW.UNION.EDU Last updated: 7/2012.
    [Show full text]
  • Character/Person Role/Job the PRESIDENT and ALL of HIS MEN
    Actor Character/Person Role/Job THE PRESIDENT AND ALL OF HIS MEN Richard Nixon 37th US President 39th VP under Nixon until 1973; resigned amid charges of extortion, tax fraud, bribery & Spiro Agnew conspiracy (replaced by Gerald Ford, who was the House Minority Leader) VP replacing Agnew, later became 38th US Gerald Ford President Special counsel to Nixon; set up the Charles Colson "plumbers" unit to investigate info leaks from White House Nixon's domestic policy adviser; directed the John Ehrlichman "plumbers" unit H.R. “Bob” Haldeman Nixon’s chief of staff Haldeman's right-hand man; was the deputy Jeb Stuart Magruder director of Nixon's re-election campaign when the break-in occurred at his urging Nixon’s 1972 midwest campaign manager; Kenneth Dahlberg his check for $25k to Maurice Stans wound up in bank acct of a Watergate burglar Attorney General; then quit AG to be John Randolph John Mitchell chairman of CREEP; linked to a slush fund that funded the burglary Replaced Mitchell as chairman of CREEP Clark MacGregor (July to Nov 1972) Became Attorney General in 1972 (5 days before Watergate break-in) when Mitchell Richard Kleindienst resigned as AG to go work for CREEP; resigned in 1973 Former CIA agent and mastermind of the break-in; Member of the White House E. Howard Hunt "plumbers"; his phone # was found on a WG burglar, linking break-in to WH Former FBI agent who helped plan the break- G. Gordon Liddy in at DNC offices; spent over 4 years in prison; now an actor, author & talk-show host Commerce secretary & later the finance chairman for CREEP; raised nearly $60 Maurice Stans million for Nixon's re-election; insisted that he had no knowledge how some of the money he raised wound up in the cover-up.
    [Show full text]
  • 23> Watergate
    3;• The , 23> 4-N W,f}nOMIEVEINO Watergate Watershed A Turning Point for • A Nation and a Newspaper By Katharine Graham n Saturday morning, June 17, 1972, Howard Simons, The Post's manag- 0 ing editor, called to say, "You won't believe what happened last night." He was COPYRIGHT BY MARK GODFREY right. First he told me of a car that crashed Katharine Graham with reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward in The Post's into a house where two people had been newsroom: "Is it all going to come out?" the publisher had asked at one point. Fla., at the time. His press secretary, Ron month later, revealed the connection of the PERSONAL HISTORY Ziegler, dismissed the incident as "a third- burglars to the Committee to Re-elect the rate burglary attempt," adding, "Certain el- President (CRP). making love on a sofa and went right out ements may try to stretch this beyond what The Post was ahead on the story from the other side. To top that, he related the it is." None of us, of course, had any idea the beginning. And from the beginning, Nix- fantastic story that five men wearing surgi- how far the story would stretch; the begin- on began making threats of economic retali- cal gloves had been caught breaking into ning—once the laughter died down—all ation against the paper. "The Post is going the headquarters of the Democratic Nation- seemed so farcical. to have damnable, damnable problems out al Committee at the Watergate office build- The story of the break-in appeared on of this one.
    [Show full text]
  • The 40Th Anniversary of Watergate: a Commemoration of the Rule of Law”
    Do Not Delete 8/1/2012 8:18 PM Chapman University School of Law Transcription of 2012 Chapman Law Review Symposium: “The 40th Anniversary of Watergate: A Commemoration of the Rule of Law” Panel 1: “President Nixon’s Secret Tapes: Evidence that Politically, Legally and Historically Defined Watergate (and More)” Friday, January 27, 2012 Moderator: John W. Dean* * John W. Dean served as Counsel to the President of the United States from July 1970 to April 1973. Before becoming White House counsel at age thirty-one, he was the chief minority counsel to the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, an associate director of a law reform commission, and an associate deputy attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice. His undergraduate studies were at Colgate University and the College of Wooster, with majors in English Literature and Political Science; followed by a graduate fellowship at American University to study government and the presidency. He then entered Georgetown University Law Center, where he received his J.D. with honors in 1965. John recounted his days at the Nixon White House and Watergate in two books: Blind Ambition (1976, with new extended afterword in 2010) and Lost Honor (1982). After retiring from a business career as a private investment banker, Mr. Dean returned to writing best-selling books and lecturing, as well as becoming a columnist for FindLaw’s Writ (from 2000 to 2010). He currently writes a bi-weekly column for Justia.com. Mr. Dean’s other books include: The Rehnquist Choice: The Untold Story of the Nixon Appointment that Redefined the Supreme Court (2001), Warren G.
    [Show full text]
  • Watergate and the Two Lives of Mark Felt
    Watergate and the Two Lives of Mark Felt Page 1 of 7 washingtonpost.com Advertisement Watergate and the Two Lives of Mark Felt Roles as FBI Official, 'Deep Throat' Clashed THE VALUE By Michael Dobbs Washington Post Staff Writer STARTS Monday, June 20, 2005; A01 WITH THE The Watergate scandal had reached a peak, and President Richard M. Nixon was furious about press leaks. His suspicions focused on the number two man at the FBI, W. Mark Felt, a 31-year bureau veteran. He ordered his aides to "confront" the presumed traitor. Another man may have panicked. Over the previous six months, Felt had been meeting secretly with Bob Woodward of The Washington Post, helping him and fellow Post reporter Carl Bernstein with a series of sensational scoops about the abuse of presidential power. But the former World War II spymaster had an exquisite sense of how to play the bureaucratic game. In a Feb. 21, 1973, FBI memo, Felt denounced the Post stories as an amalgam of "fiction and half truths," combined with some genuine information from "sources either in the FBI or the Department of Justice." To deflect attention from himself, he ordered an investigation into the latest leak. "Expedite," he instructed. Recently identified as the secret Watergate source known as "Deep Throat," Felt is the last and most mysterious of a colorful cast of characters who have captured the national imagination. Now 91, and in shaky health, the former FBI man joins a pantheon of Watergate figures ranging from H.R. "Bob" Haldeman and G. Gordon Liddy to John J.
    [Show full text]
  • COINTELPRO - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia Page 1 of 8
    COINTELPRO - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Page 1 of 8 COINTELPRO From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program) was a program of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation aimed at investigating and disrupting dissident political organizations within the United States. Although covert operations have been employed throughout FBI history, the formal COINTELPRO operations of 1956-1971 were broadly targeted against organizations that were (at the time) considered to have politically radical elements, ranging from those whose stated goal was the violent overthrow of the U.S. government (such as the Weathermen) to non-violent civil rights groups such as Martin Luther King Jr.'s Southern Christian Leadership Conference to violent racist and segregationist groups like the Ku Klux Klan and the American Nazi Party. The founding document of COINTELPRO directed FBI agents to "expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize" the activities of these movements and their leaders. Federal Bureau of Investigation Contents 1 History 2 Methods 3 Illegal surveillance 4 Further reading 4.1 Books 4.2 Articles Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity 4.3 U.S. Government reports Director: Robert Mueller 5 See also Department: Justice 6 Endnotes 7 External links Divisions: 7.1 Documentary FBI Academy 7.2 Websites FBI Laboratory Criminal Justice Information Services 7.3 Articles 7.4 U.S. Government reports Major units: Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) Critical Incident Response Group (CIRG) History Counterterrorism Division (CTD) Law Enforcement Bulletin Unit (LEBU) Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) COINTELPRO began in 1956 and was designed to "increase Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) factionalism, cause disruption and win defections" inside the National Security Service (NSS) Communist Party U.S.A.
    [Show full text]
  • FBI's Lead Watergate Investigators Speak Together Publicly
    FBI’s Lead Watergate Investigators Speak Together Publicly — For The First Time ! This panel will bring together publicly for the first time the FBI's lead The panel includes: investigators of the Watergate Scandal. • Angelo Lano—Agent assigned the Through memories and anecdotes, these Watergate case, considered the Bureau’s panelists will create a narrative of the most thorough source of Watergate information. To a person, every person Bureau's work that weaves the initial committed to this panel says Watergate burglary to the halls of the Nixon White would not have been successful without House and ultimately the Oval Office. Lano’s leadership. Popular culture and the media have • John Mindermann—Agent who long focused on the role of the Washington developed sources in CREEP, including Post's Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein in Judy Hoback, a key informant who breaking Watergate leads to the public. If helped shift the Bureau’s investigation the media looks at the FBI's involvement from the burglars to Nixon’s into Watergate, they often center upon administration. In 1973, he occupied former FBI Assistant Director Mark Felt, the Nixon White House to secure popularly known as "Deep Throat." This Watergate evidence under orders of the Attorney General. panel will illuminate the Bureau's role in the • Paul Magallanes—Agent who Watergate investigation and attribute the interviewed Watergate burglars in success of the Watergate investigation to a Spanish in the DC jail mere hours after handful of special agents who worked, the Watergate break-in. He developed against incredible odds and amidst sources in CREEP, including Hoback.
    [Show full text]