Curtis Manning


 * For the film star present in the Trojan Horse mission, see Chip Manning.

Curtis Manning was 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. During the events of Day 6, he took Hamri Al-Assad hostage and Jack Bauer was forced to kill Curtis.

Before Day 4
Curtis Manning attended the University of Massachusetts and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology. He joined the United States Army, serving as a 2nd Infantry and, later, as the commander of the 32nd Support Group Special Forces Battalion during Desert Storm. The unit was ambushed by members of Hamri Al-Assad's terrorist organization. Although Curtis survived, five of his men were killed, and two were taken hostage to be executed on video by Assad's lieutenant after begging for their lives. Curtis held a deep grudge against Assad ever since.

Back in the United States, Curtis graduated from MASD's Basic SWAT School and joined the Boston Police Department. He eventually joined that city's CTU domestic unit, as a field agent and assistant Director of Field Operations. Curtis later transferred to CTU Los Angeles, where he was a member of Chet Blackburn's strike team, and also took part in an undercover operation with Jack Bauer at the Cha-Cha Lounge in Las Vegas. He ultimately transferred to administration, becoming the CTU Chief of Staff under Erin Driscoll.

Curtis had a romantic relationship with Marianne Taylor, but quickly broke it off when it became clear that she was using him to advance her own career.

Day 4


During the events of Day 4, Curtis was the Chief of Staff of CTU Los Angeles. When a train bomb in Santa Clarita killed dozens of civilians, CTU was put in charge of the investigation. Curtis briefed Erin Driscoll on what they knew about the situation. When Jack Bauer, who worked for the Department of Defense, arrived for a budget meeting, Curtis greeted him.

After Ronnie Lobell failed to get any information from Tomas Sherek, the man who planned the train bomb, Jack decided to interrogate him. After Tomas was shot in the leg, he confessed that Secretary James Heller was the primary target. After Heller and his daughter Audrey were kidnapped, President John Keeler assured CTU that the country would be in turmoil, if they witnessed Heller get executed via the internet. When Lobell and Jack left CTU to follow up on a lead, hostile Kalil Hasan shot and killed Ronnie.

Curtis took over administrative duties and Erin decided to have all Level 5 contractors to be called in. When Curtis learned that one of the contractors was Marianne Taylor, he was highly against her working at CTU.



After Jack was arrested by the local authorities, Erin bailed him out by telling the police he was working on a covert operation. Erin decided to reinstate Jack as the Director of Field Operations, the position he held before Erin fired him. Jack took over all of Ronnie's operations and Curtis continued to become suspicious of Marianne. Due to Jack's efforts, Secretary Heller and Audrey were rescued and brought back to CTU.

Eventually CTU learned that the terrorists behind the kidnapping only kidnapped Heller to create a diversion. Their real plan was to use the Dobson Override device to melt down nuclear plants across the country. The man behind the day's terrorist attacks was Habib Marwan and Curtis worked on trying to find him. Luckily Edgar Stiles managed to create and execute a program that stopped the meltdowns from occurring, but six plants were unresponsive.

When Jack and Audrey were nearly killed, they learned there was a mole inside CTU and Jack alarmed Secretary Heller of the situation. Secretary Heller set up a trap and it was discovered that Sarah Gavin was working with Henry Powell. Gavin was arrested and Erin had a medical interrogation placed on her. Both Curtis and Edgar felt that Sarah was innocent.

When Edgar found proof that Marianne set Sarah up, Sarah's interrogation was stopped and a lockdown was initiated. Marianne is able to get to the CTU parking lot, but Curtis is right behind her. Curtis takes Marianne into custody and he tells CTU agents to search her car. When the agents open her door, Marianne's car explodes and as a result of the explosion, Marianne is knocked out unconscious.



Curtis interrogated Marianne and he had Henry Powell's dead body brought in, so he could torture her with it. Curtis revealed to Marianne that Powell was killed, after being taken into custody by Jack and Tony Almeida. When Curtis offered Marianne protection in exchange for her helping CTU's investigation, Marianne agreed to pull some files of Powell's computers. After Curtis placed tracking devices on Marianne, they left CTU and went to Powell's office.

While Marianne tried to pull something off Powell's hard drive, armed men killed Curtis' team and killed Marianne in cold blood. They decided to use Curtis as leverage and they interrogated him. Curtis refused to give in and he eventually was able to escape. Curtis began to kill the hostiles and CTU became aware something was wrong when they lost contact with him. Driscoll had teams sent over to the location and Jack also headed over to the Rockland Building.



After Jack arrived at the Rockland Building, he met up with Curtis and they tried to look for Habib Marwan, who was using Harris Barnes as an alias. When Marwan realized he was spotted, he fled from the building and Jack chased after him. Curtis noticed the Dobson Override device on a computer and he disarmed the remaining plants from melting down. Marwan was able to pose as a CTU field agent and escape from the premises.

Curtis went back to CTU, while Jack decided to follow up on a lead. When Erin's daughter Maya committed suicide, Erin became distraught and was unable to continue her duties at CTU. Erin decided to step down, after Secretary Heller encouraged her it was the best thing to do. When CTU needed a temporary director until the replacement from Division arrived, Heller appointed Tony. Curtis was against Tony taking over, due to Tony's past. Heller told him that Michelle Dessler would take over within the hour.

When Jack and Paul Raines followed up a lead at McLennen-Forster, the company sets off an Electromagnetic pulse bomb, in order to destroy any evidence of their involvement with Marwan's activities. The bomb caused all of the technology in a 8 mile radius to go out, and CTU was unable to get into contact with Jack. After Jack created a gunfire with commandos hired by the company, CTU is able to pick Jack and Paul back, and bring back the evidence they found.

When CTU is unable to locate Marwan, Jack decided to make a deal with Dina Araz. Jack told Dina that he would give her immunity and put her in the Witness Protection Program with her son Behrooz, if she helped CTU find Marwan. Dina agreed and she went to Joseph Fayed, and claimed Jack was her hostage. Eventually Fayed brought Dina and Jack to Marwan, with Dina getting shot and killed. When Marwan's men take Jack and switch cars under a tunnel, Curtis and Chloe O'Brian were unable to track Jack through satellite.



Marwan called CTU and he told them he would trade Jack in exchange for Behrooz. Bill Buchanan, the Regional District Director, arrived and he refused to go forward with the trade without knowing Behrooz's connection to Marwan. Both Curtis and Tony interrogated Behrooz, with Curtis using physical tactics on Behrooz. When Buchanan decided to go forward with the trade, Curtis placed decoy trackers on Behrooz. He also implanted the real tracker in Behrooz's neck.

Curtis transported Behrooz to the location where Marwan's men brought Jack. Curtis pushed Behrooz through the gate, while Jack was released. Though Marwan's men attempted to take out Jack, Curtis and the TAC team were able to prevent this. Curtis arrived back at CTU and Jack later discovered that Mitch Anderson planned on shooting down Air Force One with a Stealth fighter. Anderson went forward with the attack and President Keeler became incapacitated.



When Curtis and Jack brought Joe Prado into CTU for questioning, Prado's lawyer David Weiss arrived and slammed down a court statement that refused CTU from physically torturing Prado to extract information. Guarded by a US Marshal, Buchanan tried to convince newly appointed President Logan to sign-off on Prado's torture. Logan refused and Jack convinced Buchanan to release Prado, so both him and Jack would be private citizens. When Jack knocked out the marshal and interrogated Prado, he managed to obtain information on Marwan.

Jack and Curtis lead a team to a night club, one of Marwan's many hideouts. When President Logan learned that Jack went against his orders, he ordered for Jack to be detained and arrested immediately. Secret Service agents arrived at the club and Curtis tried to stop them from arresting Jack. Curtis couldn't stop them, due to the agents following a presidential order, and they arrested Jack. This caused Marwan to escape and Logan later reconsider his decision, by dropping all charges against Bauer.

Curtis and the team headed back to CTU and they learned that Lee Jong was their best lead in finding Marwan. Jong managed to escape to the Chinese consulate, and he was under China's protection. President David Palmer, Jack, and Tony were all complicit in an operation to raid the consulate, which caused Consul Koo Yin to die from friendly fire. Despite getting shot, Jong was able to provide information on one of Marwan's hideouts.

Curtis and Jack worked together on capturing Marwan and the operation was successful. When Jack offered Marwan a deal in order to stop his last attacks, Marwan refused, as he was willing to die to see his goals become successful. While escorting Marwan to a vehicle, Jack and Curtis were attacked by Marwan's men. Marwan was able to escape and Curtis, nor Jack, were injured from the attack.



When it was discovered that Richard Heller was in recent contact with Marwan, CTU brought him in and Curtis prepared for an interrogation. Both Audrey and Secretary Heller decided to speak to Richard before the interrogation. When Richard pleaded that he was innocent and wouldn't give up any information, Heller authorized Curtis to do anything in his power to get his son to talk.

Eventually Richard confessed that when he was having sex with a guy, the guy's girlfriend must of used his cell phone to make the call. CTU was able to trace the hostiles to a hotel and Jack was put in charge of the operation. Jack asked to bring Lee Castle and Curtis along, but Michelle and Bill needed Curtis at CTU. When Jack requested for Tony, they agreed.

During the midst of the operation, Agent Castle was killed and Tony disappeared. The female hostile, Mandy, contacted Michelle and told her she would release Tony if Michelle were to clear an exit for her. Michelle agreed to this, but was working with CTU in setting a trap. When Mandy learned that Michelle double-crossed her, she self-destructed the car she and Tony were in.



Jack was convinced that Mandy set out body doubles to the car, and he filled Curtis in on his plan to rescue Tony from Mandy. Eventually Jack found Tony, and Mandy threatened to kill him. While Jack talked to Mandy, Curtis snuck up on her and Tony was able to release himself. Curtis hit Mandy in the face and she was taken into custody. Despite being responsible for the assassination attempt on Palmer in Day 2, Mandy was given immunity in exchange for helping CTU find Marwan.

Jack and Curtis were able to find Marwan's location and Curtis ended up getting shot, but he was stable. Marwan had a nuclear missile launched at Los Angeles, and he refused to stop it. Marwan ended up falling from a multi-story parking garage, leading to his death. Luckily the joined efforts of Chloe and Edgar helped the missile become disarmed. During the final moments of the day, Jack was thought to be shot and killed by Dale Spalding, but it was just a cover-up so that Jack could escape and disappear.

Day 5


During the opening moments of Day 5, President David Palmer was assassinated in Los Angeles. When Michelle Dessler and Tony Almeida are targeted, Bill Buchanan asks for Curtis to find a connection between them and Palmer. Michelle died from the explosion and Tony was brought back to CTU. Curtis insisted on talking to Tony, but he was unconscious.



Curtis discovered that the last time Tony and President Palmer talked was the day Jack Bauer died, and he believed that they were hiding something about Jack's death. Edgar Stiles then pulled up some security footage and it revealed that Bauer was Palmer's shooter. Buchanan made Bauer CTU's primary suspect and he would have been brought into custody, if Chloe O'Brian didn't help Jack escape.

Chloe claimed that Jack was being set up and that was the dying confession of Palmer' shooter, Conrad Haas. She claimed that there were bodies of hostiles at an oil refinery, and Buchanan had Curtis and a TAC team check it out. When a hostage crisis erupted at the Ontario Airport, Buchanan contacted Curtis and had him redirect his team to the airport. Jack was inside the airport at the time of the take over and he was sending his intel to CTU. Curtis and Jack were working together to have CTU perform a successful rescue operation.

The terrorists were demanding for President Charles Logan to call off the Anti-terrorism treaty signing with Russian President Yuri Suvarov, or they would kill the hostages. Curtis was kept in constant communication with Jack and he allowed Diane Huxley to stay at the command post. Curtis and his team were ready to strike, but they lost communication with Jack when he was about to tell them something. Jack called back and told Curtis to change the playbook, and enter from the emergency exit.

Curtis and the TAC team were ready to enter from the emergency exit, but Lynn McGill noticed a distress signal in a transcript. He ordered for Curtis and his men to stay with the original plan, believing Jack was being watched by the terrorists. The plan turned out to be successful and all of the terrorists were killed. Jack then went to Curtis and told him the leader Anton Beresch handed off a key card to one of the hostages. Jack wanted to follow up on this, but Curtis told him he had to go back to CTU.

Curtis followed up on finding the hostage and was able to track him to Hangar BB. A team stormed the hanger and discovered that the man smuggled Sentox VX nerve gas out of the airport. Curtis returned to CTU and it was eventually learned that Walt Cummings, Logan's Chief of Staff, was complicit in the selling of the gas.



When Edgar interwinded a call between Ivan Erwich and Jacob Rossler, Jack and Curtis led a team to Rossler's apartment. After taking out the hostiles, Jack was able to bring Rossler into custody. Rossler agreed to cooperate for immunity, but Jack refused and had Curtis torture him. Lynn decided to accept the deal and told Jack he was having the Attorney General write up the immunity deal. Rossler also asked for Inessa Kovalevsky, a 15-year-old girl who was forced to be his sex slave.

Inessa didn't want to go with Rossler and despite Jack promising to have her rescued afterward, she decided to shot and kill Rossler. After Inessa killed him, Curtis raised his weapon at Inessa and Jack was able to get her to surrender. With no other option, Jack was forced to pose as Rossler and meet with Erwich's men. When Erwich's men forced Jack to go along with them, Lynn told Curtis to follow them.

The terrorists decided to release a canister in the Sunrise Hills Shopping Mall and Lynn demanded for Curtis and his team not to intervene in the attack. Lynn was convinced that releasing the canister in the mall, would lead them to the 19 other canisters. After President Logan went along with Lynn's theory, Jack was ordered to have it release. Jack refused and the terrorists found another way to release it. Luckily Jack was able to have the ventilation system shut down, and only 11 people died in the attack.

Polakov managed to escape from the mall and Chloe picked him up on satellite. Curtis and Jack traced the hostile to a warehouse, and they had a team storm it. After Polakov received orders from Erwich, he took his firearm and committed suicide. Lynn was furious and felt it was Jack's fault why they weren't lead to the other canisters. He ordered Curtis to bring Jack in, though Curtis was resistant at first.

While on the way back to CTU, Curtis got a call from Audrey Raines and she requested to speak with Jack. When Jack told Curtis the call was personal, Curtis allowed him to take the call outside of the car. Jack learned that Cummings' contact James Nathanson was willing to help find the gas, but will only work with Jack. When Jack got back in the car, he knocked Curtis out unconscious and dragged him out of the car. Curtis eventually woke up and called Lynn, telling him what happened. The closest CTU car to Curtis' location went to pick him up and bring him back to CTU.



After getting back at CTU, Curtis noticed that Lynn was losing control of the situation. Lynn was convinced that Chloe and Audrey were covertly helping Jack. When Buchanan distracted Lynn, in order for Chloe and Audrey to help Jack, Bill was placed under arrest. Lynn started firing CTU's employees and he told Audrey he would have her thrown out of the building if her father wasn't the Secretary of Defense.

When Edgar found chatter that there will be a possible attack on President Suvarov's motorcade route, he told Chloe about it and they told Lynn. Lynn refused to warn Secret Service and President Logan about the attack, and Audrey later confronted him about it. Lynn verbally abused Audrey and told her to leave his office. While Curtis was walking down the hall way, Audrey ran to catch up with him.

As the Director of Field Operations, Curtis was the ranking officer in CTU and Audrey asked him if he could activate Section 112. This would relieve Lynn of his duties, due to mental incapacity to perform his job. Curtis wasn't sure if he should activate it, as he believed Lynn's mental capacity was fine, but he knew Lynn was losing control. When Lynn asked Curtis to take Audrey and Chloe away, Curtis refused and told him he was relieving him of his duties.

Lynn ordered security to take Curtis into custody, but Curtis threatened to draw his weapon if security followed that command. The guards asked Curtis what they could do to help, and he asked for them to bring Lynn to holding. Curtis then had Buchanan released from holding and they were able to warn Secret Service about the attack. Though the Russian separatists went forward with the attack, Agent Aaron Pierce was able to finish off all of the hostiles.



The bodies of the hostiles were brought back to CTU and Curtis examined them. Curtis found a schematic of a building on one of the hostiles. It was discovered that the schematic was for the Tyler Memorial Hospital and Buchanan ordered for the hospital to be evacuated. Curtis went over to the hospital with a TAC and Chemical Response team.

When Curtis arrived at the hospital, Tom Wegman noticed someone he didn't recognize on the security cameras. Curtis found Viktor Grigorin and when the hostile opened fire, Curtis was forced to retaliate and kill him. Curtis found a timer on Grigorin and one of the field agents found a canister of nerve gas. The chemical response team arrived to analyze the canister. Curtis decided to bring the canister to the contained area, despite a chance of it detonating if it was moved. Curtis was convinced it was worth the chance.

Curtis ran out of the hospital with the canister and he was able to put it in a contained area before the canister went off. Curtis called CTU to keep them up to date on the situation and he reported he was on his way back to CTU. However, a terrorist named Ostroff was able to gain access to CTU with Lynn's keycard. Ostroff set off a canister of nerve gas, and over 40% of CTU personnel were killed. Curtis spoke to Buchanan on the phone, and told him it would be a while before the teams could arrive.

Thanks to Lynn and Harry Swinton serving as sacrifices, the gas was prevented from breaking through the seals and it was flourished out of the building. Despite Jack's best friend Tony apparently getting killed by Christopher Henderson, Jack was forced to go back to work. Chloe found the address of Henderson's contact Collette Stenger on his computer, and Jack went with Curtis to the hotel Collette was staying at.



Curtis and Jack arrived at the hotel with the TAC team, but Collette was already gone. They eventually found a man trying to escape from the hotel, and he threatened to shoot Curtis if Jack's men didn't stand down. After it was confirmed that Jack and Curtis were with CTU, the man revealed his name was Theo Stoller and he was an operative with German Intelligence. Stoller had been undercover for six months, as he was assigned to learn Stenger's connection.

Eventually Stoller agreed to work with CTU for a steep price and once Curtis confirmed that it was Stenger, Theo left and Collette was taken into custody. Jack interrogated Stenger and she agreed to cooperate for presidential immunity. Stenger revealed that she just brokered the deal, and she got her information from a contact at DOD. Stenger revealed that her contact was Audrey Raines.

Audrey was interrogated by Jack and Rick Burke, and Jack was convinced Collette was setting her up. After Jack was able to prove Stenegr withheld information, and her immunity agreement was broke. It was learned that Bierko planned on releasing gas through the Wilshire Gas Company, so the gas would go into 90,000 homes in Los Angeles. Jack and Curtis lead a team to the gas company, in their last attempt to stop the Sentox attacks.

Curtis and Jack arrived at the gas company and were able to take out the hostiles, but Bierko had the gas released and he was able to escape from the building. Jack was forced to blow up the building in order for the Sentox to be destroyed. When Jack went after Bierko, the explosion occurred and they were caught in the wave of it. Curtis wasn't able to confirm if Jack was alive, and luckily Jack survived the explosion. He handed an unconscious Bierko over to Curtis and told him to bring Bierko back to CTU.

Curtis arrived back at CTU and Homeland Security had absorbed it. Despite Buchanan and nearly all of the CTU staff being replaced with Karen Hayes' personnel, Curtis and his team stayed on board. When Chloe and Bill began to covertly help Jack prove President Logan was behind Palmer's hit and the selling of the Sentox, they decided to bring Curtis into it.



Curtis learned that Audrey was with Christopher Henderson, as Jack had to go on board Flight 520 to retrieve the audio recording implicating Logan in the day's events. When Henderson's men arrived, Audrey ran off and Curtis found her. Curtis instructed his team to strike and Henderson's men were killed. Curtis brought Audrey and Henderson back to CTU.

While Audrey was recovering in medical, Curtis learned that Secretary Heller was alive. Earlier in the night, Heller had driven his car into a lake, as Jack was being forced to choose between his life and letting Henderson go. Curtis informed Audrey about her father's survival and she thanked him for all of his help. Eventually Jack returned to CTU with the recording, but Miles Papazian erased it.

It was soon learned that Bierko managed to escape, while he was being transported to District Command. Agent Davis survived the attack on the transport van and he revealed that Bierko's men were talking about another attack and a canister of nerve gas. Jack was forced to strike a deal with Henderson, and Jack would help stage his death if Henderson helped stop Bierko.



Henderson went to meet with Joseph Malina, in a covert operation. Jack and Curtis' team surrounded Malina's place, and Henderson told Malina about CTU agents being around the building. Jack ordered for the teams to strike, and Curtis ended up getting shot in the shoulder. Jack caused Henderson's plan to blow up, but they still managed to find out Bierko was targeting the Natalia. Curtis was stable, but Jack had him treated with medical attention.

Jack and Henderson were able to stop Bierko and disarm the missiles from the Natalia. Logan was also arrested for treason, as First Lady Martha Logan managed to set him up.

Day 6


During the events of day six, Curtis was serving as the Director of Field Operations at CTU Los Angeles. He accompanied Special Agent in Charge Bill Buchanan to the Chinese delivery of Jack Bauer. It was soon learned that terrorist Abu Fayed was willing to give CTU the location of Hamri Al-Assad, the man responsible for the recent terrorist attacks. All Fayed wanted in exchange was $25 million and to have Jack be a sacrifice.

After Curtis and Bill dropped Jack off with Fayed, Jack was tortured and he soon learned that Fayed was the real man responsible for the attacks and Assad came to this country to establish peace and stop Fayed's plans. Jack managed to escape and he warned CTU and President Wayne Palmer to stop the strike against Assad. They failed to do so and Jack went to warn Assad.

When CTU learned that Jack stopped a train bombing and that Assad was helping him, they agreed to work with them on an operation. Assad was placed undercover with one of Fayed's men, while CTU tracked him with satellite coverage. Jack and Curtis led a team to apprehended the subject, but the terrorist gave his life. Luckily his surviving hard drive was able to give CTU new information on Fayed's plans.

It was quickly established that Curtis and Assad had some sort of history, as Curtis was very uncomfortable working with him, and assigned a subordinate agent to shadow him everywhere. After Scott Wallace was rescued from Ahmed Amar, President Palmer agreed to give Assad a full pardon for his past terrorist activity if he helped apprehend and stop Fayed. Chloe O'Brian soon contacted Jack and told him about Assad and Curtis's sordid history. It turns out that Curtis's squad had been ambushed in Iraq, and five were killed. Two of his other men were captured while Curtis himself was too injured to continue. A video was later released showing Assad's men torturing the two men. Assad's lieutenant made them beg for their lives just before he cut off their heads.



Curtis decided to eliminate Assad, feeling it wasn't right to give him a pardon. While attempting to kill Assad, Jack arrived and demanded for Curtis to holster his weapon. Curtis refused to do so, forcing Jack to shoot him in the neck, killing him in seconds.

Memorable quotes

 * Bill Buchanan: Curtis move your men in!
 * Curtis Manning: About time, all teams move in. Move in! ("Day 5: 2:00pm-3:00pm")


 * Curtis Manning: If you try to carry out that command, I will draw my weapon. ("Day 5: 4:00pm-5:00pm")


 * Curtis Manning (to Assad) Why do you keep saying "we"? There's you, and there's us. ("Day 6: 9:00am-10:00am")


 * Curtis Manning: (his final words) I can't let this animal live. ("Day 6: 9:00am-10:00am")

Background information and notes

 * There is a character in the Trojan Horse novel with a similar name to Curtis Manning, Chip Manning, but he appears to be a different person. It is unknown if they have any sort of connection.
 * In a deleted scene from the Day 4 DVD, Curtis rescues Behrooz Araz just before he is killed by Habib Marwan's men.
 * Curtis is named a "friend" by Jack Bauer after killing him in Day 6 to Mike Doyle.
 * Curtis lasted longer than any of Jack's other "field-partners" coming in at 44 episodes, longer than Mike Doyle, Chase Edmunds, Ronnie Lobell and Cole Ortiz.
 * Just before Jack shoots Curtis, Roger Cross breaks character by flinching before the sound of the gunshot.
 * In Season 7, Larry Moss lists Curtis, along with Ryan Chappelle and Teri Bauer, as someone who didn't survive being around Jack.

Appearances
Curtis Manning Curtis Manning