William Francis Buckley William Francis Buckley ( May 30 , 1928June 3 , 1985 ) was a United States Army officer and the CIA station chief in Beirut from 1984 until 1985 . His cover was as a Political Officer at the U . S . Embassy in Beirut . He died on or around June 3 , 1985 while in the custody of Hezbollah . He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery , and is commemorated with a star on the Wall of Honor at the Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA ) headquarters in Langley , Virginia . Early life and career . William Francis Buckley was born in Medford , Massachusetts . After graduating from high school in 1947 , he joined the United States Army . He began as a military police officer and served in that capacity for two years , but then attended Officers Candidate School and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in Armor . He continued his military education at the Engineer Officer ' s Course at Fort Belvoir , Virginia , the Advanced Armor Officer ' s Course at Fort Knox , Kentucky , and the Intelligence School at Oberammergau , Germany . During the Korean War , Buckley served as a company commander with the 1st Cavalry Division . Next , he returned to Boston University and completed his studies , graduating with a degree in Political Science . It was during this time that Buckley began his first employment with the Central Intelligence Agency , from 1955 to 1957 . He was also employed as a librarian in the Concord , Winchester and Lexington public libraries . In 1960 , Buckley joined the 320th Special Forces Detachment which became the 11th Special Forces Group and attended both Basic Airborne and the Special Forces Officers Course . He was assigned as an A - Detachment Commander and later as a B - Detachment Commander . Colonel Buckley served in Vietnam with the U . S . Military Assistance Command , Vietnam , or MACV , as a Senior Advisor to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam . Career at the CIA . In 1965 ( or 1963 , according to one source ) , Buckley rejoined the CIA in what is now called the Special Activities Division . He may have been recruited by Ted Shackley , joining his Secret Team that had been involved with Edwin Wilson , Thomas Clines , Carl Jenkins , Rafael Quintero , Felix Rodriguez and Luis Posada Carriles , in the CIA “ assassination ” program . Leslie Cockburn pointed out in her book , " Out of Control " ( 1987 ) , that Buckley had had to approve CIA assassinations undertaken by the Shackley organizations . In his book , " Prelude to Terror " ( 2005 ) Joseph Trento claims that Buckley was " one of Shackley ' s oldest and dearest friends . " Buckley may have been working for the CIA while in Mexico in 1963 , but this is unconfirmed . His CIA employment kept him in Vietnam from 1965 to 1970 , and he was promoted in his military capacity to Lieutenant Colonel in May 1969 . After leaving Vietnam , he served in Zaire ( 1970 – 1972 ) , Cambodia ( 1972 ) , Egypt ( 1972 – 1978 ) , and Pakistan ( 1978 – 1979 ) . In 1983 , Buckley succeeded Ken Haas as the Beirut Station Chief / Political Officer at the U . S . Embassy . Buckley was successfully rebuilding the network of agents lost in and due to the bombing of the U . S . Embassy ; after the October 23 , 1983 Marine Corps barracks bombing , the Islamist group Hezbollah wrongly announced that they had also killed the CIA station chief ( they didn ' t yet know the station chief was Buckley ) in the blast ; their announcement was the first real indication that he was on a Hezbollah " hit list . " Kidnapping . On March 16 , 1984 , Buckley was kidnapped by Hezbollah from his apartment building when he was leaving for work . It was thought that one of the reasons he was kidnapped ( along with two other Americans at different times in Beirut ) was because of the upcoming trial of 17 Iranian - backed militants was about to begin in Kuwait . Army Major General Carl Stiner had warned Buckley that he was in danger , but Buckley told him that " I have a pretty good intelligence network . . . I think I ' m secure . " However , according to Stiner , Buckley continued to live in his apartment and travel the same route to and from work every day . William Casey , who was by then the Director of Central Intelligence , asked Ted Shackley for help in securing Buckley ' s release . Three weeks after Buckley ' s abduction , President Ronald Reagan signed National Security Decision Directive 138 . This directive was drafted by Oliver North and outlined plans on how to get the American hostages released from Iran and to " neutralize " alleged " terrorist threats " from countries such as Nicaragua . This new secret counterterrorist task force was to be headed by Shackley ' s old friend , General Richard Secord . This was the beginning of the Iran - Contra affair , which culminated in the exchange of missiles for the release of hostages . On November 22 , 1985 , Ted Shackley , Buckley ' s friend and recruiter , traveled to the Atlantic Hotel in Hamburg , where he met General Manucher Hashemi , the former head of SAVAK ’ s counterintelligence division . Also at the meeting on November 22 was Manucher Ghorbanifar . According to the report of this meeting that Shackley sent to the CIA , Ghorbanifar had " fantastic " contacts with Iran , but the CIA had designated him one year earlier as a " fabricator " . At the meeting , Shackley told Hashemi and Ghorbanifar that the United States was willing to discuss arms shipments in exchange for the four Americans kidnapped in Lebanon , although Buckley was already dead at this point . Major General Carl Stiner stated that " Buckley ' s kidnapping had become a major CIA concern . Not long after his capture , his agents either vanished or were killed . It was clear that his captors had tortured him into revealing the network of agents he had established . " According to the US , Buckley had undergone 15 months of torture by Hezbollah before his death . In a video taken approximately seven months after the kidnapping , his appearance was described as follows : Buckley was close to a gibbering wretch . His words were often incoherent ; he slobbered and drooled and , most unnerving of all , he would suddenly scream in terror , his eyes rolling helplessly and his body shaking . . . . The CIA consensus was that he would be blindfolded and chained at the ankles and wrists and kept in a cell little bigger than a coffin . Death and memorials . On October 4 , 1985 , Islamic Jihad announced that it had executed William Buckley . The US National Security Council acknowledged in an unclassified note that Buckley probably died on June 3 , 1985 of a heart attack . Buckley ' s remains were recovered by the late Major Jens Nielsen ( Royal Danish Army ) attached to the United Nations Observation Group Beirut on December 27 , 1991 . His body was returned to the United States on December 28 , 1991 , and he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors . An agency memorial service was held in August 1987 to commemorate his death . A public memorial service was held with full military honors at Arlington on May 13 , 1988 , just short of three years after his presumed death date . At the service , attended by more than 100 colleagues and friends , CIA Director William H . Webster eulogized Buckley , saying , " Bill ' s success in collecting information in situations of incredible danger was exceptional , even remarkable . " He is buried in Section 59 , Lot 346 of Arlington National Cemetery . Awards and honors . Among Colonel Buckley ' s decorations and awards are the Silver Star , Soldier ' s Medal , Bronze Star Medal with " V " Device , two Purple Heart s , the Meritorious Service Medal , the Combat Infantryman ' s Badge , and the Parachutist Badge . He also received the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with bronze star from the Army of the Republic of Vietnam . Among his CIA awards are the Intelligence Star , Exceptional Service Medallion and Distinguished Intelligence Cross . Among Buckley ' s civilian awards are the Freedom Foundation Award for Lexington Green Diorama , Collegium and Academy of Distinguished Alumni Boston University . The William F . Buckley Memorial Park in Stoneham , Massachusetts is dedicated to his memory . The fifty - first star on the CIA Memorial Wall represents him , surrounded by about 82 other stars ( as of January 2005 ) representing CIA officers killed in the line of duty . Approximately 35 of the stars are for unnamed agents whose identities have not been revealed for national security reasons . His name and year of death are recorded in the " Book of Honor " at the wall . The CIA awarded him the Distinguished Intelligence Cross , an Intelligence Star , and an Exceptional Service Medal , but has not said whether any of these were issued posthumously ( although at least one award of the Exceptional Service Medal must have been made posthumously ) . Personal life . According to the biographical information distributed by the CIA , Buckley was " an avid reader of politics and history " and " a collector and builder of miniature soldiers . " The latter hobby enabled him to become a principal artisan in the creation of a panorama at the Lexington Battlefield Tourist Center near his native Bedford , Massachusetts . The press release also said he owned an antique shop and was an amateur artist and a collector of fine art . It called him " a very private and discreet individual . "