Missing Man (36 page)

“The Ambassador added”
: The conditions for Bob's release put forward by Ambassador Miraboutalebi were outlined in a memo sent by Ory Eshel to Robert Destro following the meeting on October 30, 2011. Destro subsequently sent a memo containing that information to the FBI agents Dean Harp and Don Voiret on October 31, 2011.

But Destro never heard another word about them
: Interview with Robert Destro.

21. The Twilight War

Shahrazad Mir Gholikhan
: The circumstances of her release were described by a former State Department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

a former Iranian diplomat living in London
: The name of that former Iranian diplomat was Nosratollah Tajik.

Ira didn't hear from him again
: Interview with Ira Silverman.

“I thought that after nine years”
: Chris's comments were made to ABC News and the Associated Press, January 18, 2016.

“We have no idea”
: John Kerry's comment was reported by the Associated Press on January 19, 2016.

 

Acknowledgments

Every journalist hopes to find a rich, engaging story. No one expects seven years will pass before it sees the light of day. At times, I thought this book would never be written. Having made it this far, I thought readers might like to know how it came to be.

The story traces back to the fall of 2007, when I happened across a
Financial Times
article about the disappearance of a former FBI agent on Kish Island while investigating a case involving counterfeit cigarettes. I was interested in the account and the involvement of a fugitive, American-born assassin—Dawud Salahuddin. The story became more intriguing when private investigators involved with counterfeit cigarettes cases told me they never would have gone to Iran and were at a loss to understand why the former agent, Bob Levinson—a big white guy with a Jewish name—would take such a risk.

Before long, things took a turn toward the strange. I met Ira Silverman and Dave McGee at a New York hotel and both men insisted that Bob had gone to Kish on a mission for the CIA. They were dismayed by the FBI's lack of interest in the case and showed me Bob's CIA consulting contract. They hoped attention to his story from a publication such as
The New York Times
might force the FBI and CIA into action. It was impossible, I told them, to know what was going on without seeing Bob's records. I flew to Florida and had lunch with Chris Levinson. She agreed to allow me to review her husband's work files and emails. At Dave's offices in Pensacola, a journalistic fantasy awaited—about ten file boxes were piled high on a conference room table. The CIA-related documents and many of the emails cited in this book were a part of that trove.

I spent months reconstructing the path that Bob took to Kish, and by mid-2008, the
Times
could have published an account about his CIA relationship and ill-fated Kish trip. But Dave, as a condition to giving me access to the material, had insisted on one ground rule to which I had readily agreed—I could use the information as the basis for reporting, but I wouldn't write anything that jeopardized Bob's safety. Over the years that followed, there were times when I was certain that Bob was dead. On one weekend in 2010, I told my wife I was convinced he was no longer alive—absolutely nothing had been heard from him since 2007—and that I planned to go into the office on Monday and argue we should publish our story. That same evening, I was forwarded the email containing the hostage video in which he made his plea for help. Among other things I learned while working on this story is that the assumptions we make as journalists are sometimes wrong.

The
Times
published my account of Bob's story after the Associated Press released its story in late 2013. Critics contended that the newspaper had bowed to requests from the U.S. government to conceal what it knew about Bob's case. There is no truth to that. The simple fact is that we didn't want to do anything to jeopardize Bob or complicate efforts to free him. Perhaps that was naïve. But it was a decision that my editors at the
Times
and I never regretted or second-guessed. That said, when the AP published its article I felt a sense of relief; keeping a secret for seven years was a burden.

This book was made possible because of the help and participation of a large number of people. I especially want to thank Christine Levinson, Dave McGee, Ira Silverman, and members of the Levinson family, including Stephanie, Sarah, Samantha, Daniel, and David, for putting their trust in me. They may find parts of this book difficult to read, but my goal was to provide a clear understanding of why Bob Levinson would risk going to Kish and the events that transpired afterward.

Sonya Dobbs deserves a special shout-out for helping me with documents and sending me Sarah Palin's autobiography—which I never read. I want to thank Robert Amsterdam, Matt Apuzzo, Boris Birshtein, Houshang Bouzari, Kathleen Carroll, Robert Destro, Neil Docherty, Linda Fiorentino, Philip Scott Forbes, Adam Goldman, John Good, James Grady, Richard Gregorie, Suzi Halpin, Margaret Henoch, Xavier Houzel, Chris Isham, Michael Isikoff, Ron Jordison, Jeff Katz, Mark Lowenthal, Linden MacIntyre, Madzhit Mamoyan, Joyce McGee, James McJunkin, Jim Mintz, John Moscow, Senator Bill Nelson, Kenneth Rijock, Brian Ross, Philippe Séchaud, Betsy Silverman, Peter Smolyanski, Larry Sweeney, and Joe Trento.

Some U.S. officials who once worked or are still working for the FBI or other parts of the government provided information to me but requested anonymity in doing so. They know who they are.

I can't say enough about my colleagues at the
Times
, who allowed my reporting on the Levinson case to go on for so long. Matt Purdy and Paul Fishleder deserve special thanks. Several
Times
reporters, past and present, including David Johnson, Mark Mazzetti, Eric Schmidt, Mike Schmidt, Scott Shane, and Willie Rashbaum, provided valuable advice. Three executive editors at the
Times
—Bill Keller, Jill Abramson, and Dean Baquet—knew about this project and were supportive of it. Nazila Fathi, a former
Times
reporter in Iran who was forced to flee her homeland, sent me notes from her visit to Kish Island. David McCraw, as he has always done, provided sound advice. Dean Murphy kindly allowed me to take a leave of absence to work on this book.

A very special tip of the hat goes to my desk mates and friends, particularly Jad Mouawad and Andy Martin, who managed to maintain their senses of humor (and mine) despite hearing hours of strange conversations emanating from my direction. Other friends both inside and outside the
Times
, including Michael Moss, Richard Einhorn, and Amy Singer, knew about Bob's story for years and urged me to keep the faith. Peter Eavis, Sam Grobart, and Nathaniel Popper lent their support. Henry Griggs, Susan Bernfield, Claude Millman, Linda Gottesfeld, Phil Parker, Alice Blank, David Udell, Eric Abouf, Morgan Brill, and Cheryl Whaley were among those who kept my family fed and entertained. Catha and Viggo Rambusch, our summer neighbors, have been a constant source of delight, flowers, and inspiration.

My sincerest thanks go to Andrew Wylie, my agent, and Eric Chinski of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, who decided to take a chance on publishing a book despite knowing beforehand that its ending, at least in a traditional sense, might never be known. Eric did precisely what a writer hopes an editor will do, make his work better, a job he managed to do with grace and humor. I am also grateful to everyone else at FSG who helped turn a manuscript into a book, especially Laird Gallagher. Lisa Silverman smoothed rough spots and straightened out miscues. Elizabeth McNamara scoured the results.

Writing this book would have been impossible without the love and understanding of my wife, Ellen, and our daughter, Lily. When Lily was about twelve, I told her about Bob Levinson's story, explaining that she shouldn't say anything about it to anyone. I now realize that was way too much to ask, but Lily kept Bob's secret vouchsafed. I take great joy in her compassionate nature. As for Ellen, what can I say? Her endurance, her fortitude, her understanding, far outstrip my capacities in all these arenas. So do her capabilities as a writer and journalist. She was the guiding force behind this book and applied her talents as an editor to its structure and flow. Every husband and every author should be so lucky.

New York, 2015

 

Index

The index that appears in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your e-book. Please use the search function on your e-reading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.

ABC; 20/20

Abedini, Saeed

ABSCAM

Abu Dhabi

Afghanistan; U.S. invasion of

Agha-Soltan, Neda

Ahmad, Ebrahim Ali

Ahmadinejad, Mahmoud; elected president; on Levinson; reelection of; television interview of; U.N. speech of

Alarzagh, Ahmad Ali

Al Qaeda; Nazarbayev and

aluminum

al-Zayat, Fouad

Amanpour, Christiane

American Fugitive

American Hustle

Amsterdam, Robert

Anderson, Jon Lee

APCO International

Apuzzo, Matt

Asgari, Ali Reza

Ashcroft, John

Associated Press (AP)

Atta, Mohamed

Austria

Bae, Kenneth

Baer, Robert

Bailey, F. Lee

Banco Ambrosiano

Bank of Credit and Commerce International

Bank of Cyprus

Barzani Kurds

Basij

Bauer, Shane

bauxite

Beery, Jonathan

Beggs & Lane

Beirut

bin Laden, Osama; Soghanalian and

Birshtein, Boris; Coe and; Deripaska and; FBI and; Fellowship and; in Istanbul meeting with Levinson; Levinson and; Mamoyan and; Mogilevich and; Riza and

Bishop International

Black Dahlia, The
(Ellroy)

Blackwater

Blankfein, Lloyd

blood diamonds

Boudreau, Rocky

Bouzari, Houshang; Levinson and; Levinson's arrangements for border crossing of; South Pars and; torture of

Braverman, Jack

British American Tobacco (BAT)

Brooke Army Medical Center

Brookner, Janine

Bush, George W.

Businessweek

Byrne, Patrick M.

Calvi, Roberto

Carney, Jay

Carroll, Kathleen

Carter, Jimmy

Cash, Tom

Cat Nutrition

Cauffiel, Tommy

Center for Justice and Accountability

Center for Public Integrity

Central America

Chain Murders of Iran

Chávez, Hugo

Christian Science Monitor,
The

CIA (Central Intelligence Agency); al-Zayat talks and; analytical branch of; clandestine operations of; Colombian hostage situation and; Counterterrorism Center of; Directorate of Intelligence; Directorate of Operations; disclosure of Levinson's ties to; documentation of Levinson's relationship with; expansion of; FBI and; forced departures from; hiring boom at; Illicit Finance Group of; internal investigation into Levinson's disappearance; Iran and; Jablonski at,
see
Jablonski, Anne; Levinson and; Levinson as consultant for; and Levinson family's financial situation; Levinson's consulting contract with; Levinson's contract revision recommendations to; Levinson's disappearance and; Levinson's finances and; Levinson's Kish trip and; Levinson's project proposals to; Levinson's reports to; official confirmation of Levinson's connection with; Omar and; and publishing of sensitive information; and renditions of terror suspects; scapegoating at; Soghanalian and; and talks with Iran about Levinson's release; in weekly meetings on Levinson case

cigarette counterfeiting and smuggling; British American Tobacco and; Philip Morris and; as cover story for Levinson's trip to Iran

Clarke, Richard

classified information, leaks of

Clement, Peter

Clinton, Bill

Clinton, Hillary

CNN

Coe, Douglas

Colombia: American hostages in; drug trade in; Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)

Congress

Cooley, Joseph

Cooper, Anderson

counterfeiting: cigarettes,
see
cigarette counterfeiting and smuggling; money

counterintelligence

counternarcotics

counterterrorism

Counterterrorism Center

Cyprus

Daily News

Davis, Rick

Davos

DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration); Levinson at; Venjik and

Defense Department hostages in Colombia

Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)

DeLaurentis, Dino

Department of Homeland Security

Deripaska, Oleg

Deripaska, Polina

Destro, Robert

diamonds

Dick Cavett Show, The

Director of National Intelligence

Discover

Dobbs, Sonya

Docherty, Neil

Dole, Bob

Donovan, Raymond

DSFX

Dubee, Melvin

Dubai; Levinson's disappearance and; Marriott Towers in

Ebrahimi, Amir Farshad

Egeland, Todd

Einsel, Doug

Ellroy, James

Esfandiari, Haleh

Eshel, Ory

Evin Prison

Extraterritorial Squad

Fars News Agency

Fattal, Joshua

FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation); ABSCAM and; Birshtein and; Christine Levinson and; CIA and; Deripaska and; Destro and; and disclosure of Levinson's consulting role; Ebrahimi and; and emails about Bob following disappearance; Extraterritorial Squad; Fellowship and; Hejazi and; Help Bob Levinson website and;
House on 92nd Street
and; Houzel and; Jablonski and; Khazaee and; lack of progress on Levinson's disappearance; Levinson as agent with; Levinson's cigarette smuggling cover story and; Levinson's computer files and; Levinson's disappearance and; Levinson's retirement from; Levinson's seminars at; Mamoyan and; McGee and; meeting on Levinson search held by; and mistakes made by criminals or terrorists; Mogilevich and; Nazarbayev and; Orlando and; Otto and; reward for news about Levinson increased by; Salahuddin and; in search for Levinson; Soghanalian and; in talks with Iran about Levinson's release; Venjik and; video analysis at; and video of Levinson; in weekly meetings on Levinson case