NBC acknowledged Wednesday that, at the FBI's request, it sat for nearly a day on a story about the arrest of an FBI agent on spy charges.

NBC News exec Bill Wheatley said that when the news organization learned of the arrest of veteran agent Robert Philip Hanssen, it contacted the FBI for confirmation. The agency, Wheatley said, confirmed the arrest but asked NBC to delay airing news of it because they were expecting Russian agents to pick up a package of documents that Hanssen had reportedly deposited.

The Associated Press quoted Wheatley as saying, "They explained to us that clearly were we to go with the story at 6:30 (p.m. Monday), the chances were great that the Russians would hear about the matter and avoid picking up the package." By Tuesday morning, no one had attempted to retrieve the package and NBC went with the story on the Today show.

Source: Studio Briefing