Crime & Federalism

Is Deep Throat a hero? I think not. Long after ratting out Richard Nixon and the Watergate bandits to The Washington Post, Mark Felt was himself convicted of authorizing federal agents illegally to enter homes in search of anti-Vietnam War bombing suspects. The break-ins took place during the same period he was using Post reporters to even his score with Nixon. He was later pardoned by Ronald Reagan.

So why is this smiling nonagerian on the cover of news publications as some kind of saint?

I say we call a spade a spade. Special Agent Mark Felt was, and remains, a snake. He's the sort of law enforcement officer who slithers under cover of darkness and strikes at will. He is, to use more legally meaningful words, a state actor who believes that being under color of law gives him a license to break the law.

Felt was the number two man at the FBI when J. Edgar Hoover resigned. Why did he go to war with Nixon? Most likely because Nixon went outside the FBI to replace Hoover. That is venality, not patriotism.

I find no fault with the Post's use of confidential informants, and with the decision to keep secret the man's identity. But it is naive to lionize Mr. Felt.

It serves him now on the eve of death to leak his involvement in Watergate. How much was he paid for his story? The New York Times reports his family favored publication to generate tuition money for his grandchildren.

As the curtain falls, Mark Felt's final role as hero has the look and feel of farce.

How many other crimes did he commit and keep hidden?