Curtis Manning

Curtis Manning is the Director of Field Operations of CTU Los Angeles. Previously, he was head of Tactical and Assistant Director of Field Operations in CTU Los Angeles.

Background
He came to Los Angeles from CTU Boston, where he was a field agent and later that unit's Assistant Director of Field Operations.

Before joining CTU, he was a member of the Boston Police Department's SWAT unit and had previously served in the US Army's 2nd Infantry Brigade.

Manning has B.A. degree in Sociology from the University of Massachusetts.

Day 4
Curtis served under Ronnie Lobell, CTU Los Angeles' Director of Field Operations. When Ronnie went with Jack Bauer to capture Tomas Sherak, Curtis took over the administrative duties.

When Lobell was killed by Kalil Hasan, took his position, and, when Erin Driscoll, CTU's Special Agent in Charge, called in all Level 5 contractors, Curtis recommended that they not contact Marianne Taylor, a woman with whom he had had previous romantic involvement, but with whom he had ended the relationship, after the discovery that she was using him to further her career.

Taylor contacted him, and eventually went over his head, virtually blackmailing Driscoll in order to get a position at CTU.

Taylor was, in fact, working for the defense contractors McLennan-Forster, who were behind the release of the Dobson Override Device, and the employers of a Harris Barnes, otherwise known as Habib Marwan, the man behind the day's events.

When Sarah Gavin was arrested by Erin Driscoll and Secretary of Defense James Heller, under suspicion of being the mole inside CTU, Edgar Stiles and Curtis discovered evidence that Taylor had set Gavin up.

When Curtis discovered Marianne was the real mole, he went after her and called a lockdown. Marianne got throught the lockdown, but Curtis and Meredith Atterson managed to get her. Curtis began to drag her back inside CTU. Another CTU agent attempted to gain access to the car, but a bomb, intended for Marianne, went off, killing him. Curtis was thrown to the ground and Marianne knocked unconcious in the resulting explosion.

When Marianne recovered, Curtis interrogated her in relation to both her sneaking information to man named Henry Powell and the attempt on her life. Jack Bauer and Tony Almeida had discovered Powell's involvement already, but, before they could escort him back to CTU, he had been shot by an unidentified sniper.

His body was brought back to CTU, and Curtis used his corpse as a way of getting Taylor to talk. Marianne called him a 'sick bastard', but agreed to help him find evidence against Powell's, and, by extension, her employers.

Curtis later escorted her to the Rockland Building, where they were attacked by individuals sent from McLennan-Forster. Taylor tried to convince them that she had not betrayed them, but she was shot twice and killed.

Marianne was killed, and Manning was captured. He was interrogated, beaten severely by a man named Forbes, but he managed to escape and killed several of his captors.

Jack Bauer arrived, and Manning explained what had happened, and that Marwan was in the building with the override.

Manning and Bauer tracked Marwan, but he escaped, leaving behind the Dobson Override Device. While Jack left to find Marwan, Curtis, with the help of Edgar Stiles, managed to shut down the fove remaining nuclear power plants, before they could meltdown like the San Gabriel Island reactor.

After Erin Driscoll's daughter, Maya committed suicide in CTU's clinic, and Driscoll was relieved of duty, Curtis opposed James Heller placing Tony in command, saying that he was second-in-command. However, Tony's reign did not last long; his wife Michelle Dessler arrived.

Curtis assisted Jack Bauer with the capture of Mandy, who had killed agent Lee Castle and captured Tony. When he and Jack finally cornered her, she back against a car. While she taunted Jack, Curtis snuck around behind her and managed to take her by surprise, punching her in the face.

During CTU's final takedown of head terrorist Habib Marwan, Curtis was shot once in his left arm while attempting to rescue a fellow agent who was also shot by Marwan. He was quickly treated by a medic.

Day 5
It was Curtis who was the first one to really bring Jack Bauer's name into the attacks on David Palmer, Michelle Dessler, and Tony Almeida. Before CTU discovered that Jack was still alive, he found that the last time Palmer and Almeida talked was the day that Jack died, leading him to believe that they were hiding something about Jack's death.

Over an hour later, Curtis and his team were brought in to take care of the situation at the Ontario International Airport. Jack helped them from inside of the airport, and an assault was planned and ready to be launched. When Anton Beresch's terrorists capture Jack, he is forced to tell Curtis to change his assault plan, being careful to note that he is in a "flank two position". Curtis and his men are about to walk right into a trap when Lynn McGill realizes that "flank two position" is an old duress code and stops the attack, likely saving the lives of Curtis and his team. Minutes later, Curtis changes the assault plan, and they successfully neutralize the hostiles while preventing further loss of innocent lives. Later, while following up on a lead, Curtis is shot in the chest while the CTU team storms a room, but his bulletproof vest protects him.

After McGill abuses his power and puts Bill Buchanan in custody, Manning invokes Section 112 to bring McGill out of power. McGill threatens to put him into custody, but Curtis says that he will draw his weapon if any of the security guards attempt to follow that order. The security guards then take McGill into Holding Room 4.

Curtis then saves many lives at the Tyler Memorial Hospital by running a canister out of the hospital before it can detonate. However, since he was at the hospital, he was not in the CTU Los Angeles building when it was attacked with the nerve gas, losing about 40% of its staff.

Just before 10:00, he and Jack go into Wilshire Gas Company and thwart the terrorists' plans to release the nerve gas into peoples' homes. He and Jack come up with a plan to neutralize Vladimir Bierko's men and ignite the gas before it can be sent into homes, saving hundreds of thousands of lives. Curtis survives and shortly thereafter Jack appears out of the smoke with Bierko. Curtis is told to take Bierko back to CTU Medical. During this time, Homeland Security have taken over CTU Los Angeles and removed all major staff, excluding Chloe O'Brian. Curtis was not present for several hours after CTU was absorbed, but later leads a team that apprehends Christopher Henderson and kills his men.

Later, during a sting operation against a technician with connections to Bierko, Curtis was shot in the right arm. He was quickly rushed to a nearby hospital.