KIDNAP VICTIM WAS BEIRUT CHIEF OF CIA, POST SAYS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000100200026-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 30, 2011
• Sequence Number: 26
• Publication Date: November 26, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2011/08/31 :CIA-RDP91-005878000100200026-3
BALTIP4ORE SUN
26 November 1986
K1ClI1ap V1C~,]IY1
W1S ~C]I'Llt C~11~
of CIA, Post Says
i2eport says Buckley
was terrorism expert
WASHINGTON (AP) -William
Buckley, one of the Americans kid-
napped in Lebanon, was the chief of
the U.S. Central InteWgence Agen-
cy's Beirut operations at the time of
his capture in 1984, according to a
published report.
The CIA tried for a year to find
Mr. Buckley, and his reported death
after torture led President Reagan in
1985 to order intensified efforts to
find and free the American hostages,
The Washington Post reported yes-
terday.
The newspaper, quoting knowl-
edgeable U.S. government sources,
said Mr. Buckley, 58, was one of the
agency's leading experts on terror-
ism whose capture prompted the
CIA to spend a "small fortune" on
informants, satellite photographs
and other measures in hopes of find-
ing him and the other American
hostages.
After torture and a long period of
medical neglect. Mr. Buckley died in
Beirut, apparently in June 1985, the
newspaper said, although his death
has not been officially confirmed.
Islamic Jihad, the group that'
claimed responsibWty for Mr. Buck-
iey's ktdnapping, said in 1985 that
he had been "executed" after con-
fessing to working for the CIA.
On March 16, 1984, Mr. Buckley
was seized on a Beirut street, the
first of what would become a string
of kkinapping~.
None of the other U.S. hostages
has any direct or indirect rnnnec-
tions to the CIA, the newspaper said.
The Post said the search for Mr.
Bucklty became a crusade for the
CIA and a preoccupation of Director
W1Wam J. Casey. Agency officials
never felt confident that a rescue
mission would succeed, and finally
they obtained what The Post said
was "irrefutable" evidence that Mr.
Buckley broke down after torture
and disclosed information about C1A
operations,
Mr. Buckley was assigned to Leb-
anon in 1983 to help the Lebanese
develop methods for thwarting ter-
rorism and to rebuild the U.S. inteW-
gencx presence after the bombing of
the U.S. Embassy, in which 17 peo-
pie died, including several CIA offi-
cers.
Approved For Release 2011/08/31 :CIA-RDP91-005878000100200026-3