An FBI poster showing a composite image of retired FBI agent Robert
Levinson, right, of how he would look like now after five years in
captivity, and an image, center, taken from the video, released by his
kidnappers, and a picture before he was kidnapped, left, displayed
during a news conference in Washington, on March 6, 2012. The FBI
announced a reward of up to $1,000,000 for information leading to the
safe location, recovery and return of Levinson, who disappeared from
Kish Island, Iran, five years ago on March 9, 2007. For years the U.S.
has publicly described him as a private citizen who was traveling on
private business. However, an Associated Press investigation reveals
that Levinson was working for the CIA. There has been no hint of
Levinson's whereabouts since his family received proof-of-life photos
and a video in late 2010 and early 2011.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration faced
intensified pressure Friday to find former CIA contractor Robert
Levinson — both from lawmakers and the Levinson family — nearly seven
years after he disappeared in Iran during what now has been revealed as
an unofficial spy mission.
Levinson's family urged the government "to step up
and take care of one of its own." Members of Congress said they wanted
to know more about the case, which led to three veteran analysts being
forced out of the agency and seven others being disciplined.
Levinson vanished after a March 2007 meeting with an admitted killer
on Kish Island, an Iranian resort. For years, the U.S. publicly
described him as a private citizen who traveled to the tiny Persian Gulf
island on business. But an Associated Press investigation revealed that
Levinson actually was a contractor working for the CIA, and was paid by
a team of agency analysts who were acting without authority to run spy
operations to gather intelligence.
If he is still alive at age 65, Levinson has been
captive longer than any other American known to be held overseas. White
House spokesman Jay Carney said Levinson, who retired after 28 years at
the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration, was not a U.S. employee at
the time of his disappearance.
A contractor would not be considered a government
employee, but the CIA paid Levinson's family about $120,000, the value
of the new contract the agency was preparing for him when he left for
Iran, and the government gave the family a $2.5 million annuity, which
provides tax-free income, multiple people briefed on the deal said. No
one wanted a lawsuit that would air the secret details.
Carney declined to discuss the case in detail but
said numerous U.S. officials, including President Barack Obama, have
pressed Iran for help on finding and returning Levinson. "Since Bob
disappeared, the U.S. government has vigorously pursued and continues to
pursue all investigative leads, as we would with any American citizen
missing or detained overseas," Carney said Friday. "We continue to be
focused on doing everything we can to bring Bob home safely to his
family. This remains a top priority of the U.S. government."
The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee
said the U.S. believes Levinson is alive and is being held by the Quds
Force, which is the special operations wing of Iran's Revolutionary
Guard. "He is in the custody of some pretty bad people," Intelligence
Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., told Fox News.
Iran and the United States seem closer now than in
past years to an agreement over Tehran's nuclear program and to warmer
relations in general. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has said publicly
he has no information about Levinson's whereabouts, but Rep. Ted
Deutch, D-Fla., a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee
who represents the district where Levinson's family lives, said the U.S.
"ought to be raising this with the Iranians at every opportunity."
Other lawmakers said they would seek more answers
in Levinson's case, and his family in Florida pleaded for the government
to do more. "After nearly seven years, our family should not be
struggling to get through each day without this wonderful, caring man
that we love so much," the family said in a statement.
Soon after his disappearance, the FBI began asking
about Levinson's mission, and the CIA started a formal inquiry into
whether anyone at the agency had sent Levinson to Iran or whether he was
working for the CIA at the time. CIA analysts acknowledged he had done
some work for them but said his contract was out of money. The CIA then
told the FBI and Congress that the agency had no current relationship
with Levinson, and there was no connection to Iran, according to
numerous U.S. officials.
But in October 2007, emails uncovered between
Levinson and CIA analyst Anne Jablonski revealed the agency had been
involved with his mission to Iran. CIA managers said their own employees
had lied to them, and assigned its internal security team to
investigate. That inquiry quickly determined that the agency was
responsible for Levinson while he was in Iran, according to a former
official familiar with the review.
In an email sent in mid-2006, Jablonski discusses
the work arrangement between Levinson and the CIA. "You'd have SO
enjoyed being a fly on the wall today in our meeting about you,"
Jablonski wrote to Levinson, according to an email excerpt that was
first reported Friday by The New York Times and verified to the AP by an
independent person who has seen the document. "Everyone was so happy
about the info but just freaking out about how to NOT piss off our ops
colleagues for doing a better job than they do. Seriously - we have to
tread carefully here."
The Justice Department investigated possible
criminal charges against Jablonski and another CIA officer. However,
charges were never pursued, in part because a criminal case could have
revealed the story behind Levinson's disappearance, current and former
officials said. The officials spoke only on condition of anonymity
because they were not authorized to discuss the sensitive case.
Jablonski and two others were forced out.
Officially, the investigation remains open. Asked about Levinson Friday
in Israel, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he has raised the
question of the contractor's whereabouts with Iranian officials, but he
declined to describe those discussions. "We will continue to try to seek
his release and return to the United States," Kerry told reporters.
At least two lawmakers in Congress said they would
seek more information on Levinson's case from the government. Others,
however, criticized the AP report as potentially putting Levinson's life
in danger or slowing his release.
"We now need to make sure that everyone, jointly in
the government, is working to make sure that he comes home," Deutch
said. "There is a father and husband who is the longest-held American
hostage, and we all need to work together to make sure that he comes
home safely. This is an issue that should matter to everyone in this
country."
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a senior member of the
House Intelligence Committee, said he would "be seeking an update as
soon as possible on the Robert Levinson case from the intelligence
community, and hope there may be a new window opening in which we can
get answers from Iran."
The AP first confirmed Levinson's CIA ties in 2010
and continued investigating. It agreed three times to delay publishing
the current story because the government said it was pursuing promising
leads to get him home.
The AP is reporting the story now because, nearly
seven years after his disappearance, those leads have repeatedly come up
empty. The government has not received any sign of life since photos
and a video in late 2010 and early 2011. Top U.S. officials, meanwhile,
say his captors almost certainly already know about his CIA association.
"I hope this information does not impede the
release of Mr. Levinson in any way," said Sen. Saxby Chambliss of
Georgia, top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee. "Many in
the intelligence community believe this will push his captors to take
his life. I pray this is not the case. The U.S. government is doing
everything within its power to find Mr. Levinson and bring him home."
Carney called the AP report "highly irresponsible."
It's not clear what effect the new revelations about Levinson will have
on diplomacy between Washington and Tehran — or even if leaders in both
capitals were already aware of them, said Jon Alterman, the Middle East
Program Director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies
in Washington.
"But it's not immediately good when a story comes
out that you weren't honest about a spy you had working against the
other country," Alterman said. "In terms of the mood, it means the U.S.
has something to apologize about and the Iranians have something to
complain about."
Associated Press writer Matt Apuzzo contributed to this report.
Follow Lara Jakes on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/larajakesAP
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