From serving in Afghanistan to operating in Mexico: the last mission of two CIA agents trained in the US Army and Navy

A tragic vehicle crash exposed a covert counter-narcotics operation riddled with irregularities. In mid-April, a pickup truck plunged off a mountain road in the Sierra of Chihuahua in Mexico, killing its four occupants. Two of them were officials from the Chihuahua Attorney General’s office, and the others, as was later confirmed, were undercover CIA agents. The case continues to unfold in new chapters, and over the weekend former Chihuahua prosecutor César Jáuregui was arrested, accused of treason for allowing — without authorization from the federal government — armed foreign officials to take part in sensitive security operations on Mexican soil.

This Monday, the newspaper El Universal confirmed that the U.S. agents were Richard Leiter Johnston III, 35, and John Dudley Black, 43. Both served in their country’s armed forces — Johnston in the Army and Black in the Navy — and took part in operations in war zones such as Afghanistan. The Attorney General’s Office (FGR), which is investigating how the CIA agents entered Mexico and what they were doing there, has confirmed that shortly before the road accident the two had been present in an operation led by the Chihuahua Attorney General’s office to dismantle a huge drug lab in El Pinal, a community in the Sierra Tarahumara.

The most sensitive aspect of the case is that the two men were armed and left the Chihuahua Attorney General’s facilities bound for El Pinal as part of the tactical group assigned to the mission, El Universal reported, after gaining access to details of the FGR investigation. That finding undermines the explanations offered by the Chihuahua government after the crash. Initially it was said they were U.S. embassy staff conducting training activities, with no mention of the CIA connection. Later authorities claimed the agents did not take part in the operation but simply met the state officials as they were returning to the capital and boarded their vehicle.

Public information about the CIA operatives is scarce, which is reasonable given their status as spies. Black served in Afghanistan as a field aide to the commanding general of the 1st Marine Division, according to a brief profile published by The Seattle Times. He was born in San Francisco and raised in Washington, where he attended Gonzaga University. He played football and competed in track and field. He also took part in the university’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. “He was a pleasure to coach. He worked hard and gave his best. That’s why he was doing what he was doing. It was in his DNA. He put others first. He didn’t want to be the center of attention nor did he need to be. For young people, that’s unusual. He was a great man,” Black’s high school football coach, Dave McKenna, told the paper.

In Johnston’s case, more biographical details have circulated on a site dedicated to publishing obituaries for U.S. Army Special Forces veterans. He was born in Washington, D.C., and graduated from the University of Virginia with a bachelor’s degree in history and Mandarin Chinese. In the U.S. Army he reached the rank of captain. He served as a platoon leader in the 25th Infantry, where he led soldiers in support of Operation Freedom Sentinel in Afghanistan in 2016, conducting counterterrorism operations and training Afghan Security Forces, the site U.S. Special Forces Taps notes.

Johnston later joined the Special Forces and earned the coveted Green Beret. After leaving the Army, he served his government working in “some of the most challenging regions of the world,” including the Middle East, Africa, East Asia and the Americas. The obituary refrains from stating explicitly that the former soldier became a CIA operative. “Richard’s life was tragically cut short in a vehicle accident while on duty, supporting our nation’s priorities. […] He was doing work he truly believed in, using the skills he had refined throughout his career,” the site says. “His skills were instrumental in advancing critical initiatives that enhanced our national and global security.”

El Universal reports that during the Chihuahua antinarcotics operation Johnston and Black “did not act as passive observers but as members of the armed tactical cell.” The FGR conducted interviews with state Attorney General’s officers who took part in the mission and reconstructed the CIA operatives’ final movements. “The U.S. agents actively took part in tactical foot maneuvers, carried long guns, wore balaclavas, checked coordinates on electronic tablets and coordinated directly with the director of the State Investigation Agency [Pedro Román Oseguera Cervantes, who also died],” the newspaper says.

The publication adds that the U.S. officials rented a car in Mexico that entered the Chihuahua Attorney General’s parking lot on April 16 and remained there until the night of April 19, the day of the accident (which occurred in the early hours). “This proves that the CIA vehicle was under the agency’s custody before, during and after the deployment in the sierra,” the FGR file states, according to the newspaper. The Attorney General’s Office also reviewed security-camera footage from the state agency and confirmed the presence of Johnston and Black on the premises. One witness said that after the pickup truck overturned — and exploded instantly because it was carrying extra cans of gasoline — an order was given to conceal the CIA’s presence.

The case has had huge political repercussions in Mexico. President Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration lashed out at Chihuahua’s governor, Maru Campos of the opposition party PAN, accusing her of treason. Responsibility has ultimately fallen on former prosecutor Jáuregui, a longtime ally of Campos, suggesting a split within the state PAN at a crucial moment, with the 2027 midterm elections approaching. Campos has distanced herself from her former colleague, thereby erecting a firewall that protects her in the thorny affair.

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