The cause and circumstances of the counterintelligence officer's death remain a mystery

The US military has identified the serviceman found dead in a vehicle near the Pentagon earlier this month, revealing he was a senior intelligence specialist working in the office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 

The Army officer was named as Master Sgt. Juan Paulo Ferrer Bordador, 42, who was discovered in his car in the Pentagon's north parking lot following a welfare check on March 14, Army officials said on Wednesday. While an emergency crew responded soon after the officer was spotted, he was already dead by the time they arrived.

Since 2021, Bordador served as the noncommissioned officer leading the Joint Chiefs' Technical Surveillance Countermeasure program - a team which works to identify and thwart attempted espionage by foreign states.

The cause of Bordador's death is not yet known and few other details have been released, but the Army said it would continue to investigate. 

Born in the Philippines and later emigrating to the US, Bordador began his military career in 2004 as a counterintelligence agent with the Pentagon's Force Protection Agency, and was promoted to master sergeant last May, according to an obituary published online. His time in the military brought him to a long list of countries, including Japan, Germany, South Korea, Russia, Israel, Canada, Belgium, France and Iraq, where he was deployed for one year beginning in 2010. 

The Joint Staff is made up of all six branches of the military and is headed up by Chairman Mark Milley, the highest-ranking officer in the US armed forces and a senior military advisor to the president, defense secretary and National Security Council.