The Strange Case of Robert Levinson

By Charles Pierce, Esquire

13 December 13

pparently, the well-meaning, but all-too-human and error-prone heroes of our intelligence communities have cocked it up again.

But that was just a cover story. An Associated Press investigation reveals that Levinson was working for the CIA. In an extraordinary breach of the most basic CIA rules, a team of analysts - with no authority to run spy operations - paid Levinson to gather intelligence from some of the world's darkest corners. He vanished while investigating the Iranian government for the U.S.

Jesus H. Christ on a secure line, did they think this up in the cafeteria at lunch one day?

The CIA was slow to respond to Levinson's disappearance and spent the first several months denying any involvement. When Congress eventually discovered what happened, one of the biggest scandals in recent CIA history erupted. Behind closed doors, three veteran analysts were forced out of the agency and seven others were disciplined. The CIA paid Levinson's family $2.5 million to pre-empt a revealing lawsuit, and the agency rewrote its rules restricting how analysts can work with outsiders.

But bullshit goes on forever.

But even after the White House, FBI and State Department officials learned of Levinson's CIA ties, the official story remained unchanged. "He's a private citizen involved in private business in Iran," the State Department said in 2007, shortly after Levinson's disappearance. "Robert Levinson went missing during a business trip to Kish Island, Iran," the White House said last month.

Levinson's captivity -- and his status as a "retired FBI agent" or an "American businessman" -- have been a useful club in the bag for people opposed to changing this country's relationship with Iran, and especially for those opposed to the pending treaty regarding Iran's nuclear program. (Any story containing the words "Iran" and "hostages" has a great deal of politically useful resonance.) This latest news has not changed those minds very much. But Robert Levinson was a spy, and we were told he was something else. The Iranians were the ones telling the truth on this deal. That does not fill me with glee.

See Also: Ex-FBI Agent Who Disappeared in Iran Was on Rogue Mission for CIA

Charlie has been a working journalist since 1976. He is the author of four books, most recently "Idiot America." He lives near Boston with his wife but no longer his three children.