Michelle Dessler

Michelle Dessler was a federal agent working for the CTU. She was married to, and divorced, Tony Almeida however they got back together during Day 4 when they both decided to move away from the CTU life. Michelle was killed during the first hour of Day 5 when a bomb went off in her car outside her home planted by people working for Christopher Henderson.

Background
Dessler graduated from University of California, Davis with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. Before working at the CTU, she worked for the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the Computer Security Division as well as DARPA's High Confidence Systems Working Group.

Dessler was initially hired at CTU Los Angeles as an Internet Protocol Manager.

Experience

 * CTU – Acting Special Agent in Charge, Los Angeles Domestic Unit
 * CTU - Associate Special Agent in Charge, Division
 * CTU - Intelligence Agent, Los Angeles Domestic Unit
 * CTU - Internet Protocol Manager, Los Angeles Domestic Unit.
 * DARPA - High Confidence Systems Working Group.
 * National Institute of Standards & Technology – Computer Security Division.

Expertise

 * Built IPSec architecture - Attacks scripts, computer vulnerabilities, intrusion detection, penetration testing, operational security, viruses.
 * Proficiency in Cerberus and PlutoPlus.

Education

 * Bachelor of Science, Computer Science - University of California (Davis).

Family
Michelle has a brother, Danny who she was close to. She was also married, divorced, and remarried to Tony Almeida.

Day 2
From her position as internet protocol manager, she assisted colleagues Tony Almeida and Jack Bauer in preventing a nuclear bomb threat to the country. During the day, her casual flirting with Almeida became more serious as they helped each other through the trauma that they faced. After CTU's Special Agent in Charge George Mason sacrificed his life to fly the bomb to an isolated location before it detonated, Almeida became the new Special Agent in Charge. His thoughts on the case, however, were more closely aligned with those of government officials who, unbeknownst to him, were involved in the conspiracy. Because of this, Dessler put her trust in Bauer and went against Almeida. As the threat was revealed, however, he realized that she had been correct and assisted them in stopping the conspiracy, including taking out Ryan Chappelle in order to get a helicopter to Bauer. She was originally detained, but later let out because she was correct.

24: The Game
During 24: The Game, Michelle worked at CTU Los Angeles as CTU Chief of Staff where she assisted Jack Bauer.

When CTU was attacked by Peter Madsen and his men, Dessler and Kim Bauer were in Tech 1. They were two of a few CTU Agents not captured or killed during the attacks. Michelle helped get Kim to the safe room M3 although she herself was captured. Sean Walker was killed during the attack, an agent Michelle had trained with herself and worked with closely.

Throughout the day, Michelle helped give logistical information to field agents as well as help to re-boot the CTU computer after the attack.

Day 3
In the three years after Day 2, Dessler and Almeida were married. She was an intelligence agent while he was the CTU Special Agent in Charge. After his near-fatal shooting, Dessler had to step up to lead CTU despite her evident stress. After Almeida recovered speedily - and when Division agent Ryan Chappelle was sent to CTU to overlook events - Dessler joined a field team with Gael Ortega to go to the Chandler Plaza Hotel where Marcus Alvers was planning to release a fatal, and contagious, virus. Although no HAZMAT suits had arrived, Dessler - followed by the others in a show of loyalty - went inside to assist the hotel's security in containing the virus which was released. Most of the guests, staff and CTU personnel died over the following hours while Dessler was one of few who did survive. However the terrorist, Stephen Saunders, then kidnapped her in order to force Almeida to do his bidding which included helping Saunders escape while surrounded by CTU personnel. Dessler was stunned to learn what Almeida had done to save her. Tony was then taken into custody for treason.

After Day 3
In the time that followed, Almeida was released from prison - on the good testimony of Jack Bauer and outgoing President David Palmer - but his unemployment and situation saw his personality change, and a dependence on alcohol form. Dessler reluctantly decided to leave him and was temporarily posted to the CTU Seattle branch where she met Bill Buchanan. She was then posted back to Los Angeles, to Division, where she became an Associate Special Agent in Charge.

Day 4
AfterSpecial Agent in Charge Erin Driscoll left for personal reasons, was briefly Acting Special Agent in Charge of CTU. Almeida was more than a little surprised when Secretary of Defense James Heller called in Dessler to take over the position Almeida had temporarily held. Almeida's help was called upon by Bauer to try and capture terrorist Habib Marwan. Before she granted Almeida provisional status to work at CTU during this time, she went against him on a decision that she felt was a major one. As Jack displayed, Tony was right and Michelle was wrong. At this moment, she realized that just because he had been drinking didn't mean that he was stupid and lost his experience. She then agreed to give him higher clearance and she said that she would listen to his opinions.

In the closing episodes of Day Four, Dessler and Almeida admitted that their feelings for each other had never died away. They agreed to walk away from CTU and start life anew. However, before they are able to finish their conversation, Almeida was re-assigned to the field and was captured by Mandy. Michelle was then faced with trading Tony's life for the safe passage of Mandy, which she decided against. However, due to Jack Bauer's keen field investigation, Almeida was freed and he and Michelle were again united.

In the last episode of Season 4, Michelle aided Almeida, Chloe O'Brian, and President David Palmer in faking the death of Jack Bauer in order to save him from assassination. Both Tony and Michelle reluctantly parted with Jack.

Day 5
Michelle was with Tony in their kitchen when they heard the news of former President Palmer's assassination. Michelle wanted to call CTU to offer any help because of her experience. Tony told her not to because CTU can handle it and can look into their own files. He also told her that they had a presentation to do that day for a client. Michelle decided to take her car and head to CTU because nobody else was at CTU during the other attempts on his life. She didn't want to look back and regret this day because there was something that she could have done. A bomb planted in her car by men on orders from Christopher Henderson went off when she put the key in her car and killed her. Tony rushed out to find her but was caught in the explosion and was critically injured. Word went out immediately from CTU to Jack about Michelle's death.

Memorable Quotes

 * Michelle Dessler: (to Tony and her last line) You can handle the meeting on your own.


 * Michelle Dessler: (to Tony) They don’t have our experience. I never once regretted our decision to leave CTU, but I don’t wanna look back on today and realize I could have helped.


 * Jack Bauer: OK. Did you get me a clean phone?
 * Michelle Dessler: Yeah. Here’s a scramble filter. You can talk up to one minute undetected.


 * Michelle Dessler: When they told me you were dead…
 * Tony Almeida: I know. It’s all right.
 * Michelle Dessler: Oh, I love you. I didn’t realize how much until I thought I lost you.


 * Michelle Dessler: I can't...I can't spend another day without you. I'm ready to leave here, I'm ready to go with you.


 * Michelle Dessler: I'm his wife. He did what he did to save my life!
 * Brad Hammond: I'm aware of that. And because of that he's being charged with treason.
 * Michelle: Treason? Brad, look, I know that he broke protocol by taking Jane Saunders out of CTU but he would never have given her out…
 * Brad Hammond: Michelle!
 * Michelle Dessler: And because of him we were able to catch Saunders!


 * Dalton Furrelle: (referring to Nina Myers) Her pulse is spiking. Someone hasn't been using protection with Marcus Alvers.
 * Michelle Dessler: (to Tony) She's probably had sex with him.


 * Michelle Dessler: I'll go anywhere with you...as long as I don't have to cook.
 * Tony Almeida: Sweetheart, if you promise not to cook, I will take you with me anywhere.


 * Michelle Dessler: I'm gonna deal with this Mr. Auda myself. If you need any help, call Jacobs. He’ll give you a hand.
 * Carrie Turner: Tony told you to assign someone to Auda.
 * Michelle Dessler: Well, I'm assigning myself.
 * Carrie Turner: You're still not comfortable working with me, are you?
 * Michelle Dessler: Just do your job, Carrie.