Counter Terrorist Unit


 * You may be looking for CTU Los Angeles.

The Counter Terrorist Unit (also referred to as the Counter Terrorism Unit or CTU) was an intelligence and law enforcement agency in the United States of America which worked to investigate and prevent terrorist acts within U.S. borders.

CTU was disbanded following the supposed extralegal activities of several agents and was under investigation for human rights abuses. Its functions were then delegated to other agencies, and the personnel had their government clearance revoked.

Position within U.S. government
The Counter Terrorist Unit was an elite branch of the CIA that operated under the Department of Defense. The agency was overseen by the National Security Council, of which the Secretary of Defense is a part. Thus, the Secretary of Defense had some legitimate authority over CTU, as seen in Day 4. CTU was established in 1993 after the bombing of the World Trade Center.

CTU was headquartered in Washington, DC, and established domestic counter-terrorism divisional field offices in major U.S. metropolitan areas. The purview of CTU was to investigate the activities of domestic or foreign terrorists inside America's borders and to prevent terrorist attacks. CTU employed a range of people ranging from investigative agents, intelligence agents and undercover operatives to tactical field teams and special agents to oversee unit activities.

CTU was specifically set up to coordinate activities with the FBI, the Department of Justice, and the Secret Service, as well as local authorities. As a branch of the CIA, CTU operations were overseen by both Congress and the Executive Branch of the federal government.

Organization and structure


CTU was based in Washington, D.C. but had many field offices across the states.

District
District Command oversaw a larger region than Division Command, and reported directly to CTU Headquarters in Washington, D.C. When David Palmer flew to Los Angeles during Day 2, he operated out of District Headquarters. District had the authority to order a lock-down of domestic offices, as George Mason locked down CTU Los Angeles on the authority of District Office on Day 1.

Division
Division Command oversaw the Domestic Units in a given region. Division also had the authority to order a lock-down, halting all operations within a unit.

Domestic Units
CTU Domestic Units covered operations within a single city or metropolitan area. Domestic Units reported directly to Division Command, but were also subject to evaluation and interference from District. At least one Domestic Unit had an "old CTU substation" not far from its main office.

The domestic unit of CTU Los Angeles had been seen as the most active, as it responded to a wide variety of terrorist threats, including the attempted assassinations of Senator David Palmer, a nuclear bomb threat, a deadly viral threat, the abduction of Secretary of Defense James Heller, the attempted meltdown of multiple nuclear power plants, a nuclear missile launch, the theft of twenty canisters of weapons-grade nerve gas, and the threat of five Russian suitcase nuclear weapons. On many occasions, CTU LA was assisted by other domestic units.

Disbandment
A trial was launched into the past activities of CTU in tracking down and torturing suspects, preventing attacks, and in their methods of practice and activity. CTU was disbanded and all its personnel had their government status revoked, some offered jobs at other agencies but most left jobless.

A Senate Subcommittee subpoenaed former agent Jack Bauer to stand trial for violations of human rights set forth in the Geneva Convention. Evidence relating to the charges was collected from Bauer's classified dossier, including information on his torture of Ted Cofell, Graem Bauer and Ibrahim Haddad, his cold-blooded killing of Nina Myers, Marshall Goren and Christopher Henderson, his former heroin addiction, his illegal assault on the Chinese consulate and many others.

The hearing was interrupted by the FBI who required Jack's assistance in tracking down former CTU agent and supposedly deceased Tony Almeida, which led Jack to discover that several of his former CTU colleagues, including Bill Buchanan and Chloe O'Brian, were still working, albeit underground, to track down and unravel a conspiracy within the government.

The halting of the trial led to Jack stopping several terrorist attacks including an attempt on the President's life and the discovery of biological weapons. However, in the process Senator Blaine Mayer, who was leading the charges against Jack, was killed.

The next morning, President Taylor recommissioned CTU servers to aid in the search for the planned scapegoat for the biological weapon attacks.

Background information and notes

 * While there is no Counter Terrorist Unit in real life, the United States Department of Defense created the Counterintelligence Field Activity Agency in 2002, designed to investigate and repel terrorism within the United States and its interests. Another counterterrorism organization, the National Counterterrorism Center, was established in 2003. In Issue 2 of the Official Magazine an article looks at the Terrorism and Research Centre, a supposed real life CTU counterpart. Issue 4 looks at "The Real Jack Bauer"; a.k.a. Charles Allen who is Chief Intelligence Officer of the Department of Homeland Security. He explains what the real-life counterpart of CTU actually does.
 * In the 2004 film The Punisher, one of Frank Castle's first jobs was an agent for CTU. Likewise, a CTU agent by the name of Lee Castle is featured in 24.
 * The other District Officers (besides Washington) presumably oversee other regions of the country including Midwest, Northwest, Southwest, Southeast and Northeast. This may be contradicted by the conversation between Jack Bauer and George Mason during Day 1, where Mason, the District Director, tells Jack that he reports to Chappelle, chief of Division. However, Chappelle tells Tony Almeida during Day 2 that he has his orders from District.