Deep Throat’s information, and in my view, courage, allowed the newspaper to use what he knew and suspected.

This remark comes from Bob Woodward’s retrospective reflections on the Watergate investigation and the role of the confidential source known as “Deep Throat,” later revealed as FBI associate director Mark Felt. Woodward is describing how the source’s guidance—often indirect, confirmatory, and cautionary rather than a simple leak of documents—helped The Washington Post pursue and responsibly publish reporting about the Nixon administration’s involvement in the break-in and subsequent cover-up. By emphasizing “courage,” Woodward points to the personal and professional risk Felt assumed in speaking with reporters during a period when the administration was exerting pressure and the story’s implications were politically explosive.

Woodward frames Deep Throat’s contribution as enabling rather than substituting for reporting: the newspaper could “use what he knew and suspected” because his information helped orient the investigation, validate leads, and signal where official denials were unreliable. The phrase also underscores an ethical boundary—journalists must still corroborate and contextualize, but a source’s informed suspicions can be valuable when they point to patterns of wrongdoing that are otherwise hidden. Calling it “courage” highlights the moral dimension of whistleblowing: the act is not merely informational but a decision to accept danger (career, legal, reputational) in service of public accountability.