No, not the name of Deep Throat. But rather, John Dean
reveals that Woodward has told his editor at the Washington Post that Throat is
ill, and that his former editor Ben Bradlee (one of four people who know Throat's identity, including Throat himself), has already
drafted an obituary for the mysterious leaker:
We'll all know one day very soon, however. Bob Woodward, a reporter on the team that covered the Watergate story, has advised his executive editor at the Washington Post that Throat is ill. And Ben Bradlee, former executive editor of the Post and one of the few people to whom Woodward confided his source's identity, has publicly acknowledged that he has written Throat's obituary.
Dean reveals that he learned this information through his own deep throat:
I'm caught in the middle on this discussion. As a columnist, occasional freelancer and author of six nonfiction books, I use unidentified sources myself. In fact, I just used one. The source who informed me that Woodward leaked the news of Throat's illness to the executive editor of the Post gave me that information either on "deep background" or "off the record" (I never could get the distinction of those rules straightened out). So I apologize to my source if this information was never meant to be public, but it is a tidbit too hot to keep sitting on.
So who can it be? Does anyone know of any Deep Throat suspects who are known to be seriously ill at the present time? I assume this rules out GHWB, the latest name to be bandied about, since, by all evidence, he is quite healthy.
Thoughts?
NOTE: diary edited to reflect the distinction between Woodward's current editor (Len Downie), and Ben Bradlee, his editor at the time of Watergate.