Special Unit for Counterintelligence Initiatives

The Special Unit for Counterintelligence Initiatives was a secret branch of the United States Defense Intelligence Agency, not officially recognized by either DIA or the Department of Defense. The agency oversaw security-related policy and focused primarily on countering threats from foreign intelligence activities. The unit also collaborated with FBI and military investigative services on matters relating to counterintelligence.

Under General Donovan Henderson, the unit's commander, the Special Unit for Counterintelligence Initiatives planned and carried out a mission to capture Victor Drazen after receiving intelligence that he had survived Operation Nightfall, the mission that allegedly resulted in his assassination. Drazen was extradited in total secrecy and held in the Captivity Management Program's Mobile Underground Detention and Detainment prison system.

Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Newton of the unit testified before the House Special Subcommittee on General Henderson's involvement in Drazen's survival. Jack Bauer believed his mission had been deliberately sabotaged by somebody within the Special Unit for Counterintelligence Initiatives, but Newton vehemently denied this.