How America 'takes care of its own'
In many ways, the story that emerges from Mr. Levinson’s files and dozens of interviews is that of an unusual spy, an aging but still passionate investigator searching for a way to keep his hand in the game. It is also the story of officials in a relatively obscure C.I.A. office looking to push the boundaries between the agency’s analytical side and its covert operations. An agency inquiry concluded that those analysts had encouraged him to take risks and then misrepresented his activities after he went missing.
To his family and friends, the government Mr. Levinson served for decades abandoned him for a time, initially making little attempt to find him or acknowledge why he went to Iran.
They started their own search, and a cast of unlikely figures was drawn into the hunt, many seeing it as an opportunity to get something for themselves. They included an infamous weapons dealer, Sarkis Soghanalian, and one of Russia’s most powerful businessmen, Oleg Deripaska.
In late 2010, when his family received the tape of Mr. Levinson, they saw a man they barely recognized. He was gaunt. His shirt was threadbare. He was seated in a makeshift prison cell.
“I need the help of the United States government to answer the requests of the group that has held me,” he said, as music played in the background. “Please help me get home. Thirty-three years of service to the United States deserves something.”
In Israel, we would have gone to the other extreme and released 1,000 terrorists for him. But the fact that the CIA and FBI both tried to pawn the case off on each other for at least the first year is despicable.
Labels: Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, FBI, Iran, spying
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:25 PM
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