The identity of Deep Throat is the greatest remaining mystery of Watergate. Hailed by many as a profile in courage and condemned by others as a modern-day Benedict Arnold, there is little doubt this individual played a crucial role in one of the greatest presidential scandals of the 20th century.

In this report, I look at the mystery surrounding Deep Throat. Now that we are commemorating the 30th anniversary of the June 17, 1972 break-in at Democratic headquarters, who are the likely suspects? And what is the significance of the individual who redirected the course of American history?

Because of the historical importance of this figure, there has been endless speculation about Deep Throat. Taking Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward at face value when he says the person was a single individual, not a composite of several different sources, one strand of thinking is that Deep Throat was a security agent with access to secret information. In his book, The Terrors of Justice, Maurice Stans wrote that the person "had to be someone high in the FBI, or in the U.S. Attorney’s office in Washington, who had access to FBI full field investigation reports" (p. 428). In a 1992 Atlantic article, former Washington Post reporter James Mann identified the source as a senior FBI official (such as Mark Felt, Charles Bates, or Robert Kunkel) on the grounds that in fall of 1972 Woodward repeatedly spoke to Mann of "my source at the FBI" or "my friend at the FBI." Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen says it was "Secret Service technicians" who became appalled with Nixon’s behavior while monitoring the secret White House taping system.

But these individuals do not satisfy the criteria laid down by Woodward. In the book, All The President’s Men, Carl Bernstein and Woodward characterize Deep Throat as a "source in the Executive Branch who had access to information at CRP [The Committee to Re-Elect the President] as well as at the White House" (p. 71) and someone who provided information not just about Watergate, but about White House reactions to Washington Post stories. This clearly took an individual with both security and political access. FBI and CIA officials would not have been in a position to monitor top-level political reactions as the scandal unfolded.

During a 1989 interview with Playboy, Woodward clearly argued that Deep Throat was not in the intelligence community. [Playboy interviewer Anthony Lukas] "Do you resent the implication by some critics that your sources on Watergate -- among them the fabled Deep Throat -- may have been people in the intelligence community? [Woodward]: I resent it because it’s not true."

For these reasons, contemporary speculation has centered on top administration officials. In their 1991 book Silent Coup, Len Colodny and Robert Gettlin name Alexander Haig as Deep Throat. Haig initially was an aide to National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger and later became Nixon’s chief of staff after Haldeman resigned. Former Washington Post reporter Aaron Latham argues former CIA director William Casey was Deep Throat because Casey loved spy games and later was a source for Woodward’s book, Veil. H. R. Haldeman claims Fred Fielding, staff assistant to John Dean, as his suspect in The Ends of Power (p. 136). Washington power-broker Len Garment names political operative John Sears as Deep Throat in his1997 book, Crazy Rhythm. Rabbi Baruch Korff believes news person Diane Sawyer, then working in the Nixon White House press office, was Deep Throat. Others have stated it was FBI acting director L. Patrick Gray, Washington lawyer Edward Bennett Williams, or Garment himself.

Yet the fact that some of these individuals now are either dead or retired obviates these claims. It is understandable that a current or recent official would not want to be identified with leaks the magnitude of Watergate. Jobs can be lost and careers destroyed over this kind of disclosure. Yet it now is 30 years after the scandal. Most of these people do not have a continuing need for anonymity. This suggests Deep Throat was a younger person who still is in the public eye, and thereby does not want to be identified three decades later.

In his 1989 Playboy interview, Woodward noted the source’s identity needed to be protected only as long as the person were alive: "As you know, I’m not going to discuss the identity of Deep Throat or any other of my confidential sources who are still alive." To Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post in 1992, Woodward elaborated: "I’ve never had anyone ask me to extend anonymity past their death .... Deep Throat ‘obviously’ still wants his identity protected." These quotes eliminate individuals such as Gray, Casey, and Williams who have died.

Where then, does that leave us? It is important to unravel the Deep Throat mystery in order to identify one of the most historically significant individuals in American political life. A greater knowledge of this person’s motives, background, and institutional position would shed new light on this crucial period.

A close reading of All The President’s Men (and its sequel The Final Days) provides a number of hints about Deep Throat’s personal qualities:

1) modesty: "Deep Throat never tried to inflate his knowledge or show off his importance" (pp. 130-1).

2) inability to conceal feelings: "He was not good at concealing his feelings" (p. 131).

3) dependable: "Deep Throat rarely missed an appointment" (p. 172).

4) frightened: "what struck Woodward even more was how frightened Deep Throat seemed .... Woodward had never known him to be so guarded, so serious" (p. 76)) and "His lower jaw seemed to quiver" (p. 317).

5) losing weight: "he was thinner" (p. 131).

6) repulsion over heavy-handed tactics: "[Deep Throat] had once called it the ‘switchblade mentality’ -- and had referred to the willingness of the President’s men to fight dirty and for keeps, regardless of what effect the slashing might have on the government and the nation" (p. 130).

7) honesty: "He was dispassionate and seemed committed to the best version of the obtainable truth" (p. 131).

8) contemplative: "Deep Throat became contemplative" (p. 245).

9) gossipy: "He was, incongruously, an incurable gossip, careful to label rumor for what it was, but fascinated by it" (p. 131).

10) bad table manners: At one meeting in a bar, Woodward writes, "[Deep Throat] wiped his moth inelegantly with the back of his hand" (p. 269).

Deep Throat’s ability to monitor information suggests the individual occupied a crucial political or communications position in the White House. According to Woodward, this person held an "extremely sensitive" position (p. 72) and "had access to information from the White House, Justice, the FBI and CRP. What he knew represented an aggregate of hard information flowing in and out of many stations" (p. 131). Other than a top staff position, which mainly would be occupied by people now dead, few offices would have this kind of access.

The one exception available to a mid-level person would have been a political or communications job at the White House. By nature of their mission, responding to outside queries, political or press officials would have had the natural opportunity to talk privately with a variety of administrative officials as well as outside sources so that they could answer questions and talk to reporters without arousing suspicions.

Bernstein and Woodward reveal that their source not only was able to guide them through Watergate, but also provide a wealth of intelligence regarding how White House officials reacted to press disclosures (generally within a day of publication). Early in the scandal, Woodward revealed Deep Throat had crucial knowledge about the White House mood: "The White House ... regarded the stakes in Watergate as much higher than anyone outside perceived. Even the FBI did not understand what was happening" (pp. 72-73).

At critical junctures, Deep Throat warned Woodward about impending White House moves that were closely-guarded secrets. One case involved White House subpoenas of Post records: "They want to single out the Post. They want to go to Court to get at your sources" (p. 134). Shortly thereafter, reporter records were subpoenaed.

In addition, one of the most revealing tip comes late in All The President’s Men. During one of their meetings, Deep Throat alerted Woodward that there were crucial gaps in White House tapes: "Deep Throat’s message was short and simple: one or more of the tapes contained deliberate erasures" (p. 333). This was a key disclosure, and one that would have been known to a very small group of people.

Based on clues provided by Woodward and an understanding of White House operations, there were four individuals who were in a position to know the intricacies of Watergate and thereby leak them to Woodward: David Gergen (then a speechwriter for Nixon), Frank Gannon (a press assistant and now executive producer of the David Letterman television show), chief speechwriter Raymond Price, and Commerce Secretary Peter Peterson.

1) David Gergen -- In an October 31, 1993 Sunday magazine profile (p. 69), New York Times reporter Michael Kelly all but fingered Washington operative and now Harvard Kennedy School professor Gergen as Deep Throat. Gergen worked as an assistant speechwriter during the Nixon Administration. According to Kelly, Gergen had a close relationship with investigative reporters during Watergate and has continued those good ties since that time. Along with Woodward, Gergen was a fellow graduate of Yale University. Gergen had the inquisitive personality and interpersonal skills that would have afforded him access to sensitive information within the White House. He also is someone who has switched back and forth between working in Republican as well as Democratic administrations. This indicates an unusual degree of pragmatism on his part.

2) Frank Gannon -- In their book, The Final Days, Woodward and Bernstein describe press aide Gannon as a trusted assistant who, unusual for young staffers, had special access to secret material. Ron Zielger assigned Gannon the key task of supervising the editing and transcribing of the Oval Office tapes in order to meet the deadline for releasing written transcripts (pp. 134-136). This assignment gave Gannon unlimited access to information regarding the break-in as well as the coverup which ensued.

3) Raymond Price -- Price was Nixon’s chief speechwriter and a skilled practitioner of office politics. As a top aide charged with speechwriting and communications, Price had an institutional position that allowed him to ask a lot of questions so he could represent the president’s position. Part of his job involved regular conversations with journalists, and keeping in touch with people throughout the administration.

4) Peter Peterson -- Peterson was a cagey operative and an early protege of former U.S. Senator Charles Percy. Peterson shared ties with Woodward in Illinois, where Woodward’s father was a Republican judge. The Commerce Secretary was politically well-connected in Washington and combined the unusual qualities of principle and pragmatism that also were held by Deep Throat. He was fired from the Nixon Cabinet, but became a prominent advocate for balanced budgets, and the need for the two parties to work together.