Posts Tagged beirut

Anniversary of Abduction of CIA Station Chief In Beirut

Posted by Brian in News on 16/Mar/2017 14:24

From SOFleteHQ on Instagram:

 

Thursday, 16 March 2017, marks the 33 year anniversary of the abduction of the CIA’s station chief, William F. Buckley. Bill, a legendary Agency officer, died on June 3, 1985 after enduring 14 months in terrorist custody. He was abducted in Beirut, Lebanon, which set off one of the most grueling periods in the CIA’s history. His legacy of bravery and resolve has inspired Agency officers who have followed in his footsteps. Elements of Buckley’s CIA tenure remain classified, but he was one of the first Agency officers to grasp the growing threat from international terrorism. In the late 1970s, for example, Buckley helped develop the Incident Response Team and the Counterterrorism Group, the forerunner to today’s Counterterrorism Center. His assignments took him around the globe, as there was no mission that Buckley would turn down. It came as no surprise to Buckley’s colleagues that he volunteered to serve as the CIA Station Chief in Lebanon following the 1983 Beirut Embassy bombing, the deadliest attack in CIA history. Underscoring his bravery, Buckley did so acutely aware of Beirut’s high threat environment, which had included credible threats against other US officials posted there. Buckley immediately brought energy and focus to the primary mission: countering the terrorists that had taken the lives of several CIA colleagues as well as State Department and Military counterparts. It was in the service of this mission on a clear morning thirty years ago that Islamic Jihad operatives kidnapped Buckley while he was en route to work. Despite a government-wide rescue effort, Buckley died in captivity in June 1985. CIA that year held a memorial service and honored him with a star on the Memorial Wall and with the Distinguished Intelligence Cross, the highest CIA honor. In 1988, Buckley was symbolically laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors, and his remains were returned to the United States in 1991. #Freedomisnotfree #GWOT #Shadows

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