- Reports surface Bob Levinson worked for the CIA in Iran when he disappeared in 2007
- NEW: Family lawyer tells CNN about Levinson's apparent CIA connection
- The White House says Levinson wasn't a government employee when he went missing
- NEW: U.S. officials say they have no information on Levinson's whereabouts
(CNN) -- Former FBI agent Bob Levinson "was not a U.S. government employee when he went missing in Iran," White House spokesman Jay Carney said Friday. And U.S. officials noted that they have no idea where he is.
Carney made the comment amid reports that Levinson, 65, was working for the CIA in Iran, not conducting private business as officials have previously said.
The State Department and Levinson's family have denied he was working for the U.S. government ever since he disappeared on a trip to Iran in 2007.
Speaking to reporters, Carney said there's an investigation into the disappearance, but he wouldn't comment further on what Levinson "may or may not have been doing in Iran."
"I am not going to fact check every allegation made in the story you referenced, a story we 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," he said.
U.S. tourist and Korean War veteran Merrill Newman arrives at the Beijing airport Saturday, December 7, after being released by North Korea. Newman was detained October 26 by North Korean authorities just minutes before he was to depart the country after visiting through an organized tour. His son Jeff Newman says the Palo Alto, California, man had all the proper paperwork and set up his trip through a North Korean-approved travel agency. 
An Iranian court threw out a death penalty conviction last year for Amir Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine charged with spying. But he still remains in solitary confinement at Iran's notorious Evin Prison. Hekmati was detained in August 2011 during a visit to see his grandmother; his family and the Obama administration deny accusations that he was spying for the CIA. 
A North Korean court sentenced Kenneth Bae, a U.S. citizen, to 15 years of hard labor for committing "hostile acts" against the state. Those alleged acts were not detailed by the country's state-run news agency when it announced the sentence Thursday, May 2. Bae, here in a photo from a Facebook page titled Remember Ken Bae, was arrested in November. "This was somebody who was a tour operator, who has been there in the past and has a visa to go to the North," a senior U.S. official told CNN. 
Mexican authorities arrested Yanira Maldonado, a U.S. citizen, right, on May 22, for alleged drug possession. She and her husband, Gary, were traveling from Mexico back to the United States when their bus was stopped and searched. She was released on Friday, May 31 and is back in the United States. 
Saeed Abedini, a 33-year-old U.S. citizen of Iranian birth, was sentenced to eight years in prison in January, accused of attempting to undermine the Iranian government and endangering national security by establishing home churches. 
North Korea has arrested Americans before, only to release them after a visit by a prominent dignitary. Journalists Laura Ling, center, and Euna Lee, to her right, spent 140 days in captivity after being charged with illegal entry to conduct a smear campaign. They were freed in 2009 after a trip by former President Bill Clinton. 
Former President Jimmy Carter negotiated the release of Aijalon Gomes, who was detained in 2010 after crossing into North Korea illegally from China. Analysts say high-level visits give Pyongyang a propaganda boost and a way to save face when it releases a prisoner. 
Eddie Yong Su Jun was released by North Korea a month after he was detained in April 2011. His alleged crime was not provided to the media. The American delegation that secured his freedom included Robert King, the U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights issues. 
Robert Park was released by North Korea in 2010 without any apparent U.S. intervention. The Christian missionary crossed into North Korea from China, carrying a letter asking Kim Jong Il to free political prisoners and resign. North Korea's state-run news agency said Park was released after an "admission and sincere repentance of his wrongdoings." Here, Park holds a photo of Kim and a malnourished child during a protest in Seoul. 
Josh Fattal, center, Sarah Shourd, left, and Shane Bauer were detained by Iran while hiking near the Iraq-Iran border in July 2009. Iran charged them with illegal entry and espionage. Shourd was released on bail for medical reasons in September 2010; she never returned to face her charges. Bauer and Fattal were convicted in August 2011, but the next month they were released on bail and had their sentences commuted. 
Haleh Esfandiari, an Iranian-American scholar, was also detained at Evin Prison, spending months in solitary confinement before Iran released her on bail in August 2007. Esfandiari was visiting her ailing mother in Tehran when she was arrested and charged with harming Iran's national security. 
Alan Gross, at right with Rabbi Arthur Schneier, has been in Cuban custody since December 2009, when he was jailed while working as a subcontractor. Cuban authorities say Gross tried to set up illegal Internet connections on the island. Gross says he was just trying to help connect the Jewish community to the Internet. Former President Jimmy Carter and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson have both traveled to Cuba on Gross' behalf, but they were unable to secure his release. 
Sixteen Americans were among the dozens arrested in December 2011 when Egypt raided the offices of 10 nongovernmental organizations that it said received illegal foreign financing and were operating without a public license. Many of the employees posted bail and left the country after a travel ban was lifted a few months later. Robert Becker, right, chose to stay and stand trial. 
Freelance reporter James Foley went missing in November after his car was stopped by gunmen in Syria. He is likely being held by the Syrian government, according to the GlobalPost, an online international news outlet to which he contributed, and Foley's brother. 
Filmmaker Timothy Tracy was arrested in Venezuela in April on allegations of funding opponents of newly elected President Nicolas Maduro, successor to the late Hugo Chavez. Tracy went to Venezuela to make a documentary about the political division gripping the country. 
Retired FBI agent Robert Levinson has been missing since 2007. His family says he was working as a private investigator in Iran when he disappeared. It's believed Levinson, now 64, is being held captive somewhere in southwest Asia. 
Americans detained abroad "If there's somebody detained overseas and it's published, true or false, that he is working for the CIA, I think it is dictated by logic that that very likely puts that person in greater danger. What I can tell you is he wasn't a U.S. government employee when he made that trip."
The Associated Press and The Washington Post first reported the CIA angle on Thursday.
Family attorney speaks
Levinson's family attorney, David McGee, told CNN's Susan Candiotti that records he found show "without a shadow of a doubt" that Levinson was indeed a contract employee of the CIA on a rogue assignment in Iran for the agency when he disappeared.
McGee and his paralegal managed to hack into Levinson's e-mails and found correspondence with a CIA analyst who had known Levinson for years.
It wasn't until McGee, a former federal prosecutor who worked with Levinson years ago, found the e-mails that the family learned about the relationship with the spy agency.
At the time of his disappearance, the State Department said he was on a private business trip investigating cigarette smuggling and said he was not working for the government.
Levinson had spied on Iran's nuclear program and Hezbollah's cigarette smuggling in the past, McGee said, but on this trip he was investigating corruption and money laundering in Iran's oil industry.
McGee said Levinson's absence has been hard on his wife and seven children.
"It's been a difficult 6 ½ years for everybody that's dealt with this," McGee said. " And the confrontations that we've had. With the agencies, with the Iranians, they've been very difficult. It's been quite a challenge. And to watch the family go through that."
Don't know where he is
Carney said he was not "going to say anything" that might harm "efforts to bring Mr. Levinson home," noting that it remained a priority and the government continues to pursue "all investigative leads."
Separately, the United States doesn't know where Levinson is being held or who has him, senior U.S. officials told CNN.
"We honestly don't know where he is," one official said.
The officials said a 2010 video of Levinson considered proof of life posed more questions than answers because it was sent from a cybercafé in Pakistan and had Pashtun music in the background.
Unable to pinpoint Levinson's whereabouts, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a statement saying the United States had evidence that he was being held "somewhere in southwest Asia."
This implied he may not be in Iran, but could have been held in Afghanistan or Pakistan.
With no sign of Levinson since, the officials said they have no way of knowing whether he is alive.
Iran maintains it doesn't know where he is and has offered to help find him.
The AP said it moved forward with publishing the sensitive story after holding off several times.
"The AP first confirmed Levinson's CIA ties in 2010 and continued reporting to uncover more details. It agreed three times to delay publishing the story because the U.S. government said it was pursuing promising leads to get him home," the news agency said in its report.
"The AP is reporting the story now because, nearly seven years after his disappearance, those efforts have repeatedly come up empty. The government has not received any sign of life in nearly three years. Top U.S. officials, meanwhile, say his captors almost certainly already know about his CIA association."
McGee said Levinson family did not want the AP or Washington Post to publish the story.
"The publication of the story was not authorized by the family," McGee said. "We did not give permission and we were not aware other than two hours in advance that the decision had been made. Having said that, there are some advantages to this. Once it's out, you no longer have to lie."
CNN's Susan Candiotti and Elise Labott contributed to this report.
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