[Erin Burnett:] Thanks, John. Newt Gingrich leading in the polls, picking up support, courting the Tea Party, court, court, court, will they ever marry you? He got two key Tea Party endorsements but the movement is not yet behind him. He has got to win them over. Three major Tea Party leaders OUTFRONT tonight. And then disturbing videotape of FBI agent turned security consultant Robert Levinson; he disappeared in Iran. Senator Bill Nelson OUTFRONT to tell us what America is doing to get him back. And the "Bottom Line" on that top secret classified drone seized by Iran earlier this week. Despite the way Iran's ambassador to the U.N. reacted to our question last night, they might be sharing America's top technology with China. Let's go OUTFRONT. I'm Erin Burnett. OUTFRONT tonight top secret American technology in the hands of a sworn adversary. At this hour Iran has the CIA's RQ-170 Sentinel drone. Last night the Iranian ambassador to the U.N. told me Iran captured the drone intact and judging by the images on Iranian state TV, of which we have more today this is where the drone is now that seems to be true. Sources at the Pentagon say that this does look like America's top stealth drone, the RQ-170. Our question tonight, what is Iran doing with this drone? The big fear is that they might be sharing its most important technology, the ability to fly undetected by radar, with China. Experts today saying the flights between Beijing and Tehran likely were booked up this week to see the drone. And it might be a case of he who doth protest too much, because here's how Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammad Khazaee, reacted when I asked him if Iran was showing the drone to China.
[Mohammad Khazaee, Iranian Ambassador To U.n:] This is a question that I think is already answered by itself. Of course no nation is going to share information with any other nation.
[Burnett:] Really? When I first asked the question he laughed and said why would you ask it? Well recently I interviewed a former Navy SEAL who told OUTFRONT that Pakistan allowed China to photograph the technology in the U.S. helicopter that crashed during the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Former defense Secretary of Defense William Cohen is OUTFRONT tonight. And Secretary, thank you so much for taking the time to be with us.
[William Cohen, Former Secretary Of Defense:] Thank you.
[Burnett:] It is interesting that you now have a couple of examples of very sophisticated and important classified American military technology in the hands of countries that do seem willing to share it.
[Cohen:] I don't think there's any question that Iran would be willing to share it NOT ONLY with the Chinese but I suspect with the Russians as well. If you look at the United States has tried to intensify sanctions against Iran because of their pursuit of a nuclear weapons program who are the two countries who have been less eager to join in that effort to prevent them from moving forward has been both China and Russia. So I don't think that the Iranians, to the extent that they have, in fact, the drone, we assume that they do. But if they have it, I don't think that they have the capability of reverse engineering it. So they would want to share that information with those countries who have the sophistication and the desire to be able to gather that information so they can encounter the technology that the United States does have. That's what gives us the edge in any kind of a conflict. The ability to control the air space and the technology is what gives us that ability.
[Burnett:] And obviously, being able to fly undetected by radar is a crucial technology. Where does China stand on this? And my understanding is their J-20 strike fighter that they've developed don't have that technology. They desperately want it and that access to this drone is something they would desperately want to help them leap to U.S. levels.
[Cohen:] Well there's a report that has been given or reported out of the National Defense University that is called it's the buy, build or steal. Every nation tries to gather whatever technology it can through whatever means it can, and I think China and Russia and others are no different than that. Even allies try to get information about technology. So it's not beyond their desire to do this. They're building a stealth capability. Others are pursuing the same. A report just came out that one of our allies, South Korea, is now pursuing the design of a manned stealth drone. It won't be available for some time to come, but other countries are trying to do what we have.
[Burnett:] Right. But isn't this proof that a country like China in trying to and accepting countries like Pakistan and Iran offering them access to this technology is not acting the way a friendly country would act?
[Cohen:] China is a competitor to the United States. They certainly want to pursue their own interests, and to the extent they can gain technology by another country sharing it with them, that's something that you can expect that they're going to do, notwithstanding any public statements to the contrary. And I haven't heard any public statements coming from Chinese officials. So I think it's fair to say they will have access to it, and I think that they will utilize it to try to build their own capability.
[Burnett:] All right, well Secretary Cohen, thank you very much.
[Cohen:] Great to be with you.
[Burnett:] A sobering assessment there of what really could be at risk with this technology and this drone. We also have developments today regarding an American missing in Iran. We have videotape of former FBI agent turned security consultant Robert Levinson. He disappeared in Iran five years ago. We visited Kish, the island where Levinson was last seen. And this is what it looks like. It's a tourist spot for Iranians, nice hotels, water parks, beaches and while Americans are allowed, me and my producer were the only Americans we saw there. We were frankly tourist items ourselves, and we only saw one group of Germans there for business in the airport. So it's not some place that you would go just to hang out. In the video an emotional Levinson looking pale and gaunt pleads for help from the U.S. government to heed the requests of his captors.
[Bob Levinson, Former Fbi Agent:] I've been held here for three and a half years. I'm not in very good health. I am running very quickly out of diabetes medicine. I have been treated well. I need the help of the United States government to answer the requests of the group that has held me for three and a half years.
[Burnett:] Levinson's wife Christine said she received this video a year ago, but she's been so frustrated with the effort from the U.S. government to free her husband that she chose to release it to the public today.
[Christine Levinson, Wife Of Missing Agent:] They are investigating. It's a difficult area of the world to get any kind of information from. I continue to hope that the group holding Bob will get back in touch with us so that we can find out what we need to do to get Bob home.
[Burnett:] One person who has been working hard to win Robert Levinson's freedom is Democratic Senator Bill Nelson from Florida. I spoke with him today and asked him why the family chose to release the tape now.
[Sen. Bill Nelson , Florida:] I think if you read the accounts today, you see that the family is just at its wit's end and so Christine Levinson is trying the only thing she has left in her arsenal, which is let's get this out there. Let's hope that somewhere someone sees this tape and that gives some kind of piece of information that the family can bring their loved one home.
[Burnett:] But you're confident the Iranian government is involved here. Because I know that theoretically he was on the island of Kish, which is a place Americans can go without a visa to Iran. He was there investigating apparently cigarette smuggling. He was a private investigator in Dubai and obviously formerly in his career had worked for the FBI, so given all of that, are you sure the Iranian government is involved?
[Nelson:] The Iranian government has certainly been put on notice over the years by the family's conversations, my conversations with the ambassador, and yet they're not forthcoming. And we're just hoping that something is going to break.
[Burnett:] Now I know that Mr. Levinson has diabetes, also high blood pressure, and in the tape he referred to his diabetes medication running very low. Again, the tape that we're seeing today was released a year ago to the family. Are you confident he's still alive?
[Nelson:] We are hopeful. There's a published report today that there was other evidence of proof of life, which were some photographs, but we don't have a date on those. And you can't be confident of anything, but as long as there is hope in the family and as long as the all the resources of the United States government are going to keep looking for Bob until we find him.
[Burnett:] All right. Well thank you very much, Senator Nelson. We appreciate it and we hope that this will be resolved with him coming home soon.
[Nelson:] Amen to that. Thank you, Erin.
[Burnett:] Thank you, sir. All right and again from sources that we have here at CNN, it appears from where some of this communication has come from with Mr. Levinson that he could be in Pakistan perhaps or even Afghanistan, not necessarily in Iran right now. Well OUTFRONT next the clock ticking. If Congress doesn't reach a deal in just 22 days, Americans lose money from their paychecks. The Republicans have a new plan. They come OUTFRONT next. And we're just hours away from what could be mass protests in Moscow, an unbelievable demonstration due to elections. America should be very concerned about the fate of Vladimir Putin. He has 18,000 nuclear warheads at his disposal at this moment. And the latest developments in the case of Florida's missing mom. Michelle Parker vanished on November 17th. Are we closer to finding her?