An American man being held in Iran for some seven years was a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent on a rogue intelligence operation, not a private citizen as previously claimed.  Spy agency officials had previously disavowed former Robert Levinson, and said he did not go to Iran for the CIA.

But months after misinforming the American congress about the truth of former FBI agent Levinson’s reasons for being in Iran, e-mails and other documents suggested he was sent there by CIA analysts who had no authority to run operations overseas.  The agency wound up firing three veteran analysts, disciplining seven more employees, and changing the rules to make it harder for underlings to hire outside contractors.

After that, official determined that the CIA was responsible for Levinson, and paid his wife US$2.5 Million, plus another US$120,000 for his contract.  Investigators don’t even know if Levinson is still alive.  The last sign of him came three years ago in a video in which he said he was in poor health.

After retiring from spending 28 years investigating organized crime and smuggling with the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Levinson accepted the CIA mission to go to Iran’s Kish Island in March 2007.