LANGLEY, Virginia (CNN) -- A CIA officer in Afghanistan was killed Wednesday in a live-fire training exercise when a grenade fired prematurely, the agency's director announced.
Helge Boes, 32, was assigned to the CIA's Counterterrorism Center, according to a statement Thursday from CIA Director George Tenet.
Boes is the second CIA officer to die in the line of duty in Afghanistan. Johnny Micheal Spann -- the first American to die in combat in that country -- was killed during a prison uprising in November 2001 near the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif.
"Helge was everything a superior case officer should be: bright, energetic and ever prepared to apply his skills where they were needed most," Tenet said. "He died doing what he loved.
"For the life Helge led -- one of courage and sacrifice, one of service without public reward -- he has earned the gratitude of every American."
Boes, who lived in northern Virginia with his wife, Cindy, was a graduate of Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia, and Harvard University Law School. He joined the CIA in January 2001 after working in a private law practice.
