Nuclear fuel rods recovery crisis



During Day 8, a group of Kamistani terrorists led an attack against the United States of America by threatening to release a dirty bomb comprised of nuclear fuel rods in New York. In exchange for not detonating the bomb, the rebels wanted President Omar Hassan given to them. U.S. President Allison Taylor refused the deal but despite her wishes Hassan was given to the terrorists and the bomb was safely retrieved. However, the long-term implications of Hassan's death stretched far greater than the effect of the bomb may have done.

Acquiring the fuel rods
Prior to Day 8, a group of rebel operatives from Kamistan attempted to bring their country forward in terms of its nuclear power resources. Farhad Hassan, one of the main conspirators in the group, came into contact with Sergei Bazhaev of the Red Square crime syndicate. He went to his brother and President of Kamistan, Omar Hassan, but Omar refused to go ahead with the plan as he felt that it would damage relations with the United States, with whom he was undergoing peace negotiations. Farhad, against the peace negotiations as he felt it weakened their country, tried to talk Omar into buying the nuclear material but he maintained his position that it would damage their nation in the long-term.

Farhad decided to go ahead with acquiring the fuel rods behind his brother's back. He and the group of Kamistani rebels he was working with (which included General Wasim and Samir Mehran) arranged with Sergei Bazhaev — who had access to decommissioned Soviet stockpiles — to exchange the rods for some money. Realizing that Omar would not be happy with his actions, Farhad deduced that the best course of action would be to assassinate his brother and take over as leader of Kamistan himself, then in possession of nuclear material and, in his own mind, strengthening his country's position in the world.

Under Bazhaev's orders (as paid for by Farhad Hassan) Davros was sent to assassinate Omar Hassan. He established himself as an NYPD officer so he would be able to get close to Omar during the peace talks at the UN building. A plot was formulated in which information would be leaked to CTU New York that there was threat of a bomb within the UN building which would lead to an evacuation. Davros would then detonate a bomb underground as Omar's car passed over it, thereby assassinating him.

Shortly before Day 8 Victor Aruz, Manuel Escobar, and Mauricio Tellez were paid to smuggle Davros into the country so he could go ahead with the assassination. Once they helped him get in, Davros was tasked with killing them all.

Contingency plan
Samir Mehran, a fellow conspirator against Hassan, was less certain that Farhad's plot would be successful. He arranged a contingency plan in which if Omar's assassination did not go to plan, he would take out Farhad and take command of the operation himself. Instead of using the rods to strengthen Kamistan's political position he would use the rods to force Omar Hassan to hand himself over to them and they could put him on trial and execute him.

First assassination attempt
Davros spent a vast amount of time before Day 8 establishing a cover as "Mike Farmer", an NYPD officer. His intention was to be part of the security detail at the United Nations building the day of the peace treaty signing between the United States and Kamistan as well as other delegations (including Russia and the United Kingdom). To help establish his cover and further negate connection to him (and away from Farhad Hassan), Davros broke into Meredith Reed's apartment and hacked into the UN servers from her computer, planting incriminating evidence to frame her. At the time, Reed was having an affair with Hassan and so it would be logical that someone so close to him would betray him, thereby taking possibility away from it being Farhad.



Victor Aruz - who was part of the team that smuggled Davros into the country - went to Jack Bauer and told him about the hit. Once he realized that Davros was trying to kill him as he had done Manuel Escobar and Mauricio Tellez, Aruz decided that he wanted to stop the assassination and go for an immunity deal. Jack attempted to take him to CTU New York, but they was attacked by men working with Davros. Jack managed to take them out but Davros was still successful in killing Aruz. Before he died, Aruz told Jack that someone close to President Hassan was betraying him.

CTU discovered the incriminating files on Meredith Reed's computer and arrested her. Chloe O'Brian was unsure that Reed was the right person behind the assassination attempt and convinced Jack Bauer to follow another lead. Meanwhile, Davros continued with his plan. He coerced an NYPD colleague, Jim Koernig, to allow Davros to take over his shift, which would allow Davros to be part of the UN security detail. Jack discovered the dead body of Koernig that Davros had left and got to the UN building. However, files on Meredith Reed's computer suggested that there was a bomb underneath the building, and so Brian Hastings of CTU had it evacuated. Now knowing that Meredith Reed had been set up, Jack tried to stop the evacuation but it was too late. He talked Director of Field Operations Cole Ortiz into driving his car in front of Hassan's to protect it from the bomb. Davros, seeing the unorthodox move, tried to detonate the bomb anyway but he was unsuccessful; it severly damaged Cole's car but Hassan was left unharmed.

Realizing that the plan had failed, Farhad Hassan fled (much to Dalia and Kayla's confusion) and went to meet with Sergei Bazhaev to take about acquiring the nuclear fuel rods. Cole pursued Davros and with the help of Jack managed to take him down. The body was taken back to CTU for analysis. While there it was discovered that Davros was covered in tatoos related to a Russian crime syndicate, Red Square. It was also found out that the body had trace amounts of uranium in it. Omar Hassan explained that his brother, Farhad, had approached him several months before about acquiring some uranium to strengthen Kamistan's nuclear capabilities but Omar had dismissed the idea. Combined with the knowledge that Farhad was the betrayer (because of his disappearance), not Meredith Reed, CTU deduced that Farhad had left to get the nuclear rods.

Exchange for nuclear bomb
After the assassination attempt, Farhad made it to Sergei Bazhaev and demanded to be given the rods. He learnt that arrests had begun to take place in the IRK as a result of the assassination attempt and so tried to speed up the process. When he was threatened by Sergei's son Josef, Farhad left and met with co-conspirator Samir Mehran. Josef eventually delivered the rods to Samir after his father's arrest. Samir then killed Josef. Farhad - unaware of Samir's contingency plan - urged Samir to ship the rods back to Kamistan. Samir explained that it was not a viable option and had one of his men kill Farhad. However, it did not go to plan and Farhad managed to call CTU, wanting to help them now he had been betrayed by his own people. CTU arrived but Farhad was killed before they could save him.



Samir took the rods to Ahman, who managed to arm them as a dirty bomb. To take out government defence capabilities, he faked a kidnap of Kayla Hassan then made her believe she escaped custody and drove to CTU, not realizing that there was an armed electromagnetic pulse bomb in the back of the car. Once the device was armed, Samir called President Allison Taylor and offered to exchange the bomb for Omar Hassan. She refused, and so Samir was forced to prepare to detonate the bomb.

Covert operation ordered by General Brucker
General David Brucker, a high-ranking member of President Taylor's staff, was unhappy with the President's decision. He approached White House Chief of Staff Rob Weiss - who in the meeting about the exchange held similar concerns - about a covert operation that would take Hassan and hand him over to the terrorists. At first reluctant, Weiss agreed, realizing that he could not pass up the opportunity to save thousands of lives of the citizens of New York.

After hacking into Ethan Kanin's computer to find out about Hassan's transport from the UN building to McGuire Air Force Base, Brucker arranged for a team, led by Adrion Bishop, to intercept Hassan's security escort, killing any operatives moving Hassan, and taking him into their custody. However, they encountered stronger resistance than they expected in the form of Jack Bauer who was leading the operation. He managed to take out all of the team besides Bishop. Bishop explained about the trade to Hassan, who had not been informed by Taylor. Understanding that he could not allow so many Americans die just so he could live, Hassan decided to go with Bishop and follow through with the exchange.

Bishop was directed by Tarin Faroush to a location and told where to go to secure the fuel rods. At the same time, Faroush got into his car with Hassan and drove away. Bishop contacted CTU and they were able to safely disarm the device from detonation.

Implications
The dirty bomb was successfully disarmed and the nuclear crisis that threatened New York was averted. However, as a result of the exchange, Omar Hassan was killed by Samir Mehran. Furthermore, Rob Weiss and David Brucker were incarcerated for their complicity in treason against the President.

The death of Hassan had a greater resonance, however, in that he was the only person capable of steering Kamistan away from civil revolt. President Taylor at first planned to cancel the peace conference as she felt the treaty would fall through without Hassan, but Jamot suggested having Dalia Hassan fill in for her husband's place. Her popularity with the people was well known and anything that could be done seemed a viable option to prevent distress in Kamistan. Taylor and Jamot spoke with Dalia, who eventually agreed.

Main conspirators

 * Farhad Hassan - De facto leader and the planned successor of Kamistan had the plan gone successfully. Killed by Samir and his men.
 * Tarin Faroush - Deep cover mole in Omar Hassan's administration.


 * Samir Mehran - Organized the operation and took over once Farhad had been eliminated.
 * General Wasim - Conspirator working in Kamistan.
 * Sergei Bazhaev - Had possession of the fuel rods before selling them on to Farhad.