William Samuels is a Federation colonist from the Demilitarized Zone who plants the device that destroys the Cardassian freighter Bok'Nor at Deep Space 9 and later dies in Cardassian custody.
Samuels appears in The Maquis, Part I. In the opening scene he is seen working on the Cardassian freighter Bok'Nor while it is docked at Deep Space 9, where he attaches an implosive device. The ship explodes shortly after leaving, killing everyone aboard.
The Cardassians abduct Samuels soon afterwards. Gul Evek later interrupts a meeting of colonists and officials to announce that Samuels has confessed to the bombing and to belonging to an organised group, and that he has since taken his own life. Evek has the body brought in as proof.
The colonists refuse to believe that he killed himself. His act and his death are the first visible moves in the undeclared conflict between the Maquis and Cardassia that the two-part story reveals.