Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2008

Mark Felt (a.k.a. Deep Throat) & Edward Miller, 1981

These two men became the highest-ranking convicted criminals in the FBI. Felt, who revealed himself in 2005 as the whistleblower known as Deep Throat, and Miller were found guilty in 1978 of breaking into Vietnam protesters' homes and offices without warrants during the Nixon presidency. They had been trying to keep the FBI and Nixon informed of activities that they considered to be undertaken by hostile foreign powers and collaborators. Overstepping his own Justice Department, President Ronald Reagan pardoned the two men in the midst of their appeals, after three years of prosecution proceedings. Reagan argued that America was generous to the thousands of draft dodgers who were pardoned for refusing to serve their country in Vietnam. "We can be no less generous to two men who acted on high principle to bring an end to the terrorism that was threatening our nation."