On February 15, 2005, the Federal Bureau of Investigation made public a set of records concerning informants used during the Watergate investigation. The release added to an existing paper trail about the bureau’s internal handling of confidential human sources and their interactions with prosecutors and congressional investigators during the early 1970s. Background The Watergate scandal began with a June 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters and expanded into revelations of wrongdoing by members of President Richard Nixon’s administration. The resulting investigations by the FBI, the Department of Justice, and congressional committees relied on a combination of physical evidence, witness interviews, and information supplied by confidential sources. Over subsequent decades, many documents about investigative methods and sources remained classified or redacted. The 2005 release The files released in 2005 were part of a series of Freedom of Information Act searches and routine declassification reviews. They included memoranda, interview notes, and internal correspondence that relate to informants—individuals who provided information to the FBI during the probe. Some entries clarified the bureau’s assessment of lead credibility, described pay or handling arrangements in general terms, and documented meetings and reporting lines within the bureau. What the documents show The newly available records do not radically change the established narrative of Watergate, but they provide more granular detail about how the FBI cultivated and managed sources, how information moved within the agency, and how agents evaluated the reliability of tipsters. Historians and journalists used the materials to corroborate existing accounts, refine timelines, and better understand the operational context in which agents worked. The records also illustrate tensions between investigative priorities and legal or ethical constraints when dealing with confidential sources. Limits and disputes Some portions of the files remained redacted or were released only in part, limiting what can be definitively asserted about specific individuals’ roles or the full content of certain exchanges. Where identities or motivations remain unclear, scholars note that the documents should be treated as one piece of evidence among many. Interpretations differ about the significance of particular entries: some researchers emphasize procedural insights, while others look for evidence bearing on higher-level decision-making. Significance The release was important for transparency and historical scholarship. By opening more of the bureau’s internal records, the FBI enabled closer scrutiny of law-enforcement methods in one of the most consequential political scandals in U.S. history. For journalists, legal scholars, and historians, the files offered additional primary sources for analyses of investigative conduct, the role of informants in political probes, and the interplay among federal agencies, prosecutors, and Congress during crises of governance. Aftermath Following the release, researchers continued to place the documents in broader archival contexts—comparing them with court records, presidential tapes, and media reporting from the period. The material has informed subsequent books and articles about Watergate, though no single release settled all outstanding questions about informant handling. The 2005 disclosure represents a step in an ongoing process of archival openness that has gradually expanded public access to records from the Watergate era.