White House and State Department deny Bob Levinson was working for the CIA

The Obama administration faced intensified pressure on Friday to find former CIA contractor Robert Levinson.It came from both lawmakers and the Levinson family - nearly seven years after he disappeared in Iran during what now has been revealed as an unofficial spy mission.           

US 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 US publicly described him as a private citizen who travelled 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 US employee at the time of his disappearance.  "I'm not going to comment on every allegation in that story," Carney told reporters.                         

"I would say that, if there's somebody detained overseas and it is published, true or false, that he's working for the CIA, I think it is dictated by logic that that very likely puts that person in greater danger. What I can tell you is he was not a US government employee when he made that trip."      

A contractor would not be considered a government employee, but the CIA paid Levinson's family about 120-thousand US dollars, 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 US dollar 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 US officials, including President Barack Obama, have pressed Iran for help on finding and returning Levinson.      

US Secretary of State John Kerry was asked about Levinson while in Tel Aviv.     

He said the State Department was focused on bringing him home safely.       

State Department Deputy Spokeswoman Marie Harf said they have repeatedly asked Tehran to "undertake humanitarian efforts to safely return and reunite Bob with his family because the government had previously offered its assistance in this matter."         

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.


AP