Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House is declining to talk about any CIA ties of an American who has been missing since a 2007 trip to Iran.
An Associated Press investigation has found that retired FBI agent Robert Levinson was a contractor for the CIA, though the U.S. government has said he was on private business when he disappeared.
White House press secretary Jay Carney said in response to questions Friday that Levinson was not a U.S. government employee when he went missing, but he wouldn't comment on whether the man was on contract with the CIA.
He said he was limited in what he could say and criticized the AP report as "highly irresponsible to publish." He said he wouldn't say anything that could harm the government's continued efforts to find Levinson.
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
