Ehrlichman made Krogh head of the "Special Investigation Unit" in the White House, charged with investigating information given covertly to the press by administration staffers. Krogh and his associates were known familiarly as the "Plumbers"—a secret team of operatives charged with fixing "leaks." It was an unlikely choice: Krogh had a reputation as someone who obeyed the law so scrupulously that his friends gave him the ironic nickname "Evil Krogh". Theodore White would write "to put Egil Krogh in charge of a secret police operation was equivalent to making Frank Merriwellchief executive of a KGB squad." Krogh brought Liddy into his new office. When the administration decided to pursue the Pentagon Papers leakers, it was Krogh who approved the September 1971 burglary of the office of Lewis Fielding, the psychiatrist seeing Daniel Ellsberg. Liddy and E. Howard Hunt would commit the actual break-in. Ironically, Ehrlichman, who himself went to prison for Watergate related crimes, would later write in his memoirs this was an example of "such doubtful personal judgment... that it has to be said materially contributed to the demise of the Nixon administration." Krogh's employment with the SIU was terminated when he refused to authorize a wiretap. When the Watergate scandal broke, Krogh was implicated. On November 30, 1973, Krogh pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiring to violate Fielding's civil rights and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. He was sentenced to six years in prison, though he served only four-and-a-half months. Krogh was disbarred by the Washington State Supreme Court in 1975. In 1977 he petitioned to be readmitted to the practice of law, based on his recognition and acceptance of his wrongdoing. This petition was rejected. Finally, in 1980, his petition was granted and he was reinstated to the practice of law.
During his time in the White House, Krogh was in charge of the impromptu visit of Elvis Presley on December 21, 1970. Presley had arrived at the gate with a letter for President Nixon requesting a personal meeting to discuss how he could help the government fight the drug trade. Because of Krogh's work regarding illegal drugs, he managed the visit. The meeting took place and Nixon gave Presley an actual narcotics agent badge. Krogh wrote a book about these events: The Day Elvis Met Nixon.
Private sector
In 1980, after being readmitted to the practice of law, Krogh became a partner at Krogh & Leonard in Seattle and provided legal, consulting, and mediation services to energy and other clients. In 2007, Krogh and his son Matthew wrote the book Integrity: Good People, Bad Choices, and Life Lessons from the White House, and he was a frequent lecturer on the topic of legal ethics, having visited many schools, bar associations and other gatherings of lawyers and judges. As of 2014, he was a speaker at events where he talked about his experiences.
Death
Krogh died from heart failure in Washington, D.C. on January 18, 2020 at age 80.
