Counter Terrorist Unit

The Counter Terrorist Unit (often reffered to as the Counter Terrorism Unit or CTU) is an intelligence organisation in the United States of America which works to prevent terrorist acts.

The Organisation
The CTU is based in Washington DC but has several branches across the US. One branch which has possibly responded to the most immediate threats is the CTU Los Angeles which has had to respond to the attempted assasination of Senator Palmer, a nuclear threat, a deadly virus and the abduction of the Secretary of Defense.

The CTU is possibly under the control of the Department of Defense as several of the key CTU staff have often complained about taking orders from the Secretary of Defense and even former about taking orders from the Secretary of Defense.

The structure of the CTU organisation consists of several levels with each level generally only working and communicating with the level above and below. The lowest level of the CTU are the Domestic Units which generally are in each city, a good example of this is CTU Los Angeles. Above them is Division Command, which oversees all Domestic Units in the area. Next comes District Command, which is responsible for all the Districts in a large area, presumably per state or large sections of the state. CTU has basic powers of arrest, but it seems from there, they have a lot more leeway in how they arrest and question their subjects.

Division
All CTU branches are under the control of the CTU Division. Ryan Chapelle was the head of Division until Day 3 when Chapelle was killed. If Division believes that there is a problem inside the CTU they can order a lock-down, which halts all CTU operations.

CIA affiliation
It is not clear who operates the CTU it has been suggested that it operates under the Central Intelligence Agency which seems unlikely because the CIA cannot operate within US borders.

It is possible that in the universe of 24, the law and the CIA's charter were changed at some point to allow them to operate domestically.

In the book, 24: The House Special Subcommittee's Findings at CTU the agency is repeatedly said to be a branch of the CIA. In fact the book gives a small description of CTU that reads in full:


 * Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU)-Elite branch of the Central Intelligence Agency. The Counter Terrorist Unit operates domestic counterterrorism divisional headquarters in major U.S. metropolitan areas. The purview of the CTU is to investigate the activities of domestic or foreign terrorists inside America's borders and to prevent terrorist attacks. CTU divisions are made up of investigative agents, intelligence agents, undercover operatives, crack tactical squads for major raids, and special agents to oversee unit activities. CTU is specifically set up to coordinate activities with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Justice Department, and the Secret Service as well as local authorities. As a branch of the CIA, CTU operations are overseen by both Congress and the Executive Branch of the federal government.

And in various "24: Declassified" novels, there is a note preceding the story that reads in full:


 * After the 1993 World Trade Center attack, a Division of the Central Intelligence Agency established a domestic unit tasked with protecting America from the threat of terrorism. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the Counter-Terrorist Unit established field offices in several American cities. From its inception, CTU faced hostility and skepticism from other Federal law enforcement agencies. Despite bureaucratic resistance, within a few years CTU had become a major force. After the war against terror began, a number of early CTU missions were declassified. The following is one of them...

However, it is unknown whether or not any of this is considered canon by the writers and producers of 24.

Directors of CTU Los Angeles
The Director of a Domestic CTU Unit is in charge of that Unit. The following is a list of the directors of the CTU Los Angeles. {|align=left