has been the publication first by associated press of a missing american, a missing floridian, bob levenson, a retired f.b.i. agent. and that publication has spurred other entities, primarily "the new york times" that had been holding the story for a number of years, well above associated press ever got the story. to then print an additional story of additional information about the disappearance seven years ago of bob levenson on kisch island, a resort island in the persian gulf right off of the coast of mainland iran. and of course we have been searching for any shred of evidence about bob. he has here in the u.s., in florida a wife and seven children, and the length of time of which he has been missing, unfortunately, seems to have met or exceeded the amount of time for almost any american. and the family, of course, desperately tries to seek any shred of evidence. now they are heartened three years ago that christine levenson, his wife, received a secretive e-mail with a video that showed that bob was alive. and in it, he made statements about he had served the government of the u.s. fo

was bob levenson actually spying for the cia?now for more than 200 miles, britain's prince harry and his team reached the south pole all in the name of charity. welcome to "around the world." i'm suzanne malveaux. michael is off today. it's his birthday. happy birthday, michael. news, world leaders, diplomats asking the question what on earth is going on with north korea in the news came out early today north korea time that the man most believed was the second

was bob levenson actually spying for the cia? >>> and after walking through the snow for more than 200 miles, britain's prince harry and his team reached the south pole all in the name of charity. welcome to "around the world." i'm suzanne malveaux. michael is off today. it's his birthday. happy birthday, michael. news, world leaders, diplomats asking the question what on earth is going on with north korea in the news came out early today north korea time that the man most believed was the second most powerful person in the country was executed by the most powerful. that, of course, being kim jung un, the young leader who holds all the cards in north korea and analysts are puzzled by all this and want to know is he power hungry, is he an raid? what is going on. in a minute, we're go going to talk about all that. first paula hancocks with the back story. >> a young man in mourning walks alongside his father's coffin. two years later five of the seven men walking with him have been fired or executed. on the orders of kim jung un. >

the associated press and the "washington post" say bob levenson was working for the cia when he vanishedfamily. jim sciutto is in washington to look more into this report. what are you hearing about why the ap and "the washington post" decided to make these revelations public now? he's still in custody. >> well, this is a very sad, a very sensitive story. this is what the ap says now. they say they first confirmed this three years ago in 2010. and that they agreed three times to delay publishing the story. here's the ap statement saying it's reporting the story now because nearly seven years after his disappearance, government efforts have repeatedly come up empty. the government has not received any sign of life for three years and it also says that top u.s. officials say his captors almost certainly already know he worked for the cia. that said, the u.s. government still pushing back. they issued a statement last night saying the u.s. government strongly urged the ap not to run the story out of continuing concern for mr. levenson's life. we've already been in touch with his family, our

bob, but there are those who have not. the chairman the house intelligence committee says officials do believe levenson is alive and is being held by a special operations wing of iran's revolutionary guard. >> if it wasn't true, it would be hard to believe. we're going to talk about this too coming up. thanks so much, elizabeth. when we discuss how this new information may impact the unfolding relationship we have in iran as we try to negotiate a longer-term deal than the six-month one in place on their nuclear program. >> there's some more problems reported today with obama care. insurance companies and health officials reviewing the applications that were submitted through the healthcare.gov website, they're saying that there are still glitches occurring. apparently thousands of people who tried to sign up through that website were told they were eligible for what later turned out to be the wrong type of health care plan or in some cases they were just flat-out denied coverage when they should not have been. in this week's republican address, pennsylvania senator pat toomey says what he described as some of the more serio

bob retired from the fbi in 1998. >> so the associated press first learned of levenson's cia link in 2010 and agreed to held the story three times on the possibility he could be freed. in the last hour, the white house decried the story. >> believe it was highly irresponsible to publish, and which we strongly urged the outlet not to publish out of concerns for mr. levinson's safety. i'm also not going to say anything that would further harm our efforts to bring him home safe, which has been the goal for the six and a half years he has been missing. >> i'm going to talk to a cia officer in a moment, but first, i want to bring back in wolf blitzer. you just finished covering it. what i wanted to get from you is your expertise on this. what do you make of the white house denying this now? >> it's sort of a technical denial. they issued a statement saying he was not a government employee, if you will. now, private contractors who may be getting some money, contract funds from the cia or other government agencies are technically not government employees. so i'm not exactly sure it was a hard and fast complete denial. ther

press and "the washington post" say bob levinson worked for the cia and was trying to tig up information when he disappeared. that's something both the agency and levenson'samily have denied for years. jim sciutto is in washington with more for you. good morning, jim. >> reporter: good morning, carol. sensitive, sad story for the family, as you say nearly seven years held in captivity. the iranian government never acknowledged that, although u.s. officials have repeatedly raised his case including secretary kerry recently in his contacts with eye rainian officials. he went to apparently according to the reporting of the ap and "the washington post" to an iranian-controlled island of kish, working as a contractor for the cia, they say, exploring corruption at the highest levels of the iranian government. now, the ap says that it had confirmed these details three years ago back in 2010, and had accepted u.s. government requests three times not to report the story out of sensitivity, but they say they're reporting it now pause nearly, this is quoting from an ap statement "nearly seven years after his disappearance, u.s. government efforts have repeatedly com