“Only a month after arriving, Bill was killed by bombs that two young boys tossed into a café. He was not the intended target. A promising young officer, a promising young life, taken in error. Taken because Bill Boteler was ready to go to a place of hazard for his country. He is one of the original 31 stars.”
Heroes – William Pierce Boteler (CIA Website)
June 16, 2026 — William P. Boteler was fatally injured by a bomb blast at the `Little Soho’ restaurant in Nicosia, Cyprus. He succumbed to his injuries a few hours later, at the age of 26. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today
“For 250 years most of the world suffered major economic and political unrest which could be directly or indirectly attributed to the climate of the neo-boreal era. Another Little Ice Age would cause hundreds of millions of deaths around the world and cause massive social unrest.”
CIA REPORT (1974)
Mount Pinatubo (June 15 1991)
June 15 2026 — 35 years ago, the volcano exploded in the second-largest volcanic eruption on Earth in the 20th century. About 15 million tons of sulfur dioxide were injected into the stratosphere, and dispersal of this gas cloud around the world caused global temperatures to drop temporarily (1991 through 1993) by about 1°F (0.5°C). Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
“While serving in the Middle East, John became ill and was hospitalized. (…) his station at the time was engaged in an operation to acquire significant intelligence of great value to the military effort in Vietnam. John elected to take the risk of seeking medical treatment where he was rather than leaving his people during this critical period.”
Heroes — John W. Waltz CIA Website
The earliest known picture of the Book of Honor is dated 1975, at which point it already had 33 stars. No picture of the original book are known to exist.
June 6, 2026 — In 1963, John Waltz was appointed Chief of Station in Iraq, serving under State Department cover as a First Secretary at the U.S. Embassy. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
“We used to look at them as kind of discrete events, not tied to each other, and seen in a vacuum. But from a distance, I think we can see more of a pattern.”
CIA Vincent Cannistraro
The timer’s logo SIB stands for Schweizerische Isolawerke Breitenbach. This alone discredits the Libya case as it is known that the fragment’s laminate was not made by ISOLA. The FBI looked the other way and read: “21B.”
March 22, 2026 — God acts in mysterious ways… Yesterday, Robert Mueller passed away, and today people commemorate the 10th anniversary of the horrendous Brussels attacks. Synchronicity is the illusion historians record — after the devil has erased his fingerprints. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
“We not only offer our gratitude for those officers who gave everything for our country – we also remind ourselves that their immortal legacy is a freer, safer, and better world for all.”
CIA Director John Ratcliffe (May 15, 2026)
May 25, 2026 — On Friday, May 15, 2026, the CIA held its annual Memorial Ceremony. A single classified star was added to the Memorial Wall. Unusually, no press release was issued by the Agency. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
“There are now 125 stars on our Memorial Wall, each representing a life that is dear to us, and will be for all time. We remain forever devoted to them, as they were to us. And we will strive to make them proud of us, as we are of them.”
CIA Director Mike Pompeo May 22 2017
May 24, 2026 — On May 22 2017, the Central Intelligence Agency held its 30th annual memorial ceremony. The ceremony began in 1987 and is attended each year by hundreds of employees, retirees, and family members of those who died in service with the CIA. Eight stars were added to the Memorial Wall in 2017, bringing — at the time — to total number to 125. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
“Our accomplishments generally remain classified, but a few special ones are known to the world.”
CIA Director Mike Pompeo
(April 13 2017)
May 21, 2026 — As of today, IntelToday Blog is active in over 150 countries — and closing fast on one million visitors, with approximately half of traffic originating from the US. — Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
“The first fatality directly related to flying the U2 occurred on 15 May 1956, when test pilot Wilburn S. Rose, flying Article 345A, had trouble dropping his pogos.”
THREE FATAL CRASHES IN 1956
History Staff Central Intelligence Agency (1992)
May 15, 2026 — Wilburn S. Rose was a former Air Force pilot recruited by the CIA to fly U-2 spy missions over the Soviet Union. He died during his first training flight at the Ranch. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today
“Consistent with long-standing practice, we do not comment on who may or may not have been honored anonymously with a star on the agency’s Memorial Wall.”
Todd Ebitz CIA spokesman
Capt. Doug Zembiec, the commanding officer of Company E, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, gives orders to his men over a radio prior to leaving their secured compound for a short patrol in Fallujah, Iraq April 8, 2004.(Official USMC photo by Sgt. Jose E. Guillen)
May 11, 2024 — Zembiec was serving in the Ground Branch of the CIA’s Special Activities Division in Iraq when he was killed by small arms fire while leading a raid in Sadr City, a neighborhood of Baghdad, on May 11, 2007. His CIA employment was confirmed by his widow and former U.S. intelligence officials. Intel Today concluded that he was honored by a star on the CIA wall during the June 7, 2010 ceremony. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
“Jane Burrell was never a candidate for a star on the CIA’s Memorial Wall because the Wall commemorates Agency employees who died in specific circumstances, and deaths from commercial plane crashes have generally not qualified.”
The Mystery of Jane Wallis Burrell: The First CIA Officer To Die in the Agency’s Service
CIA publication (July 13 2016)
Jane Burrell in Beuerberg, Germany. June 30, 1945.
January 6, 2025 — Jane Wallis Burrell died on January 6, 1948, an Air France DC-3 from Brussels crashed on approach to the Le Bourget airport near Paris, France. Burrell is the first CIA officer to die while employed by the Agency. Burrell worked in the SCU (Special Counterintelligence Unit) 105 alongside Charles Michaelis and Lord Victor Rothschild. As part of the team, she played a pivotal role in interrogating and later recruiting SS-Sturmbannführer Friedrich Paul Schwend, a key figure in Nazi financial operations.
During the interrogations, Schwend confessed to the location of the immense fortune in gold he had amassed during the war. Following his cooperation, he was employed as an informant for the Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC). However, all documentation regarding his interviews has mysteriously disappeared. Ultimately, Schwend escaped to Peru via one of the notorious post-war ratlines, networks used by fleeing Nazi officials. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today
Intel Today 