AP Withheld Levinson CIA Story for Three Years

Kept Burying the Story at Administration's Behest

The Associated Press dropped a bombshell on the long-standing story of missing “retired” FBI agent Robert Levinson, who went missing in 2007 while on a trip to Iran. Turns out Levinson was working for the CIA at the time.

With the State Department overtly lying about Levinson, who they insist was a “private businessman,” the AP finally reported the truth, but three years after they found it out.

The AP said they had previously withheld the story several times at the behest of the Obama Administration, who claimed it had “promising leads” as to Levinson’s whereabouts. After those all came up empty and officials were starting to admit they are out of leads, so the AP finally went with it.

The official narrative on Levinson remains a patchwork of vague assumptions about Iran, generalized claims he is held somewhere in Southwest Asia, and now discredited claims he wasn’t a spy. The AP story may eventually force the administration to come clean about where it stands on the investigation.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.