CIA, Caught in Colossal Lie, Lost Agent in Iran in 2007

[unhappycamper]

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/12/13-0



Associated Press finally tells public what it knows about Robert Levinson, a CIA asset abducted in Iran nearly seven years ago

CIA, Caught in Colossal Lie, Lost Agent in Iran in 2007
- Common Dreams staff
Published on Friday, December 13, 2013 by Common Dreams

Though the Associated Press held back the story three times at the request of the US government, on Thursday the news agency finally published a multi-year investigation that found an American who went missing in Iran in 2007 was not just a private businessman traveling for work, but a CIA asset.

It remains unclear if Robert Levinson is still alive—he would be now be 65—with the last proof of life coming in the form of a video released by his captures in 2011.

According to AP, Levinson's case was peculiar because the top brass at the CIA was not fully informed of his activities and it appears that his contacts at the agency were in over their heads, analysts who assumed the role of clandestine operatives. The real shock of the story, however, is not that a seemingly rogue group of CIA analysts operated outside their normal duties by employing Levinson, a former FBI agent and financial investigator, to work as an on-the-ground asset.

More disturbing is how the cult of secrecy so sacred to the intelligence world trickled down through government agencies and lawmakers who have responsibilities to the public. In this case, though keeping Levinson's CIA ties a secret was defended as a way to keep him safe, it's just as likely that the many years of obfuscation resulted in his possible death.