John Dean: "Why The Revelation of the Identity of Deep Throat Has Only Created Another Mystery"

As my Appendix shows, the quality of Felt's information -- at least as reported so far and what is found in All The President's Men -- is of questionable value, given the amount of misinformation. It seems it was Felt's position alone that gave Woodward, and in turn, Woodward's editor at The Washington Post, Ben Bradlee, confidence in pursuing a story that other news organizations initially largely ignored. (Initially, Bradlee only knew Woodward had a source who was a high official in the Department of Justice - and Bradlee did not learn more until after Nixon had resigned).
To me, a true hero of Watergate is Ben Bradlee, who not only supported Woodward and Bernstein, but had the trust of the Post's owner, Katharine Graham. Initially, the rest of the national media and the nation ignored the story. Although The Washington Post never "cracked the case," their keeping the story in the news within the Beltway had a great influence on the Congress, making it an important story. Had Bradlee not done so, history might have been much different.
We still need to know much more about Mark Felt's activities, not to mention his accomplices, to understand the Byzantine workings of the FBI of that era. I hope Bob Woodward will answer these questions -- about which he has knowledge -- sooner rather than later, while there is still interest in the story. For it is information that is as uniquely relevant today -- with the current White House hell-bent on returning the presidency to the imperial status it occupied before Watergate.

The above is from John Dean's column at Find Law entitled "Why The Revelation of the Identity Of Deep Throat Has Only Created Another Mystery."

Carl sent it in noting that Dean has a few areas of concern regarding the Felt's matter. (Regarding the nature of Felt's actions at the FBI and regarding the issue of whether or not Deep Throat could be a single person and, if so, Felt.) Remember that John Dean will be on CBS' Face the Nation Sunday.