Jack Bauer

Jack Bauer was a federal agent responsible for helping save the United States from a devastating terrorist attack on many occasions. He took a leadership role in various covert and undercover missions, and served as both Special Agent in Charge and Director of Field Operations of CTU Los Angeles. His dedication to keeping U.S. citizens safe led him to make some deep personal sacrifices. Jack lost his job, his family, his friends, and, for a period of nearly two years after Day 5, his freedom. He even showed his willingness to sacrifice his life on two different occasions, but both times ultimately proved his sacrifice to be unneccesary.

On Day 6, despite his confusing legal status, Jack Bauer was appointed by President Wayne Palmer to lead the search for the five suitcase nukes held by Abu Fayed and Dmitri Gredenko, in cooperation with CTU. He was Director of Field Operations at CTU Los Angeles in the interim between the unexpected death of Curtis Manning and the arrival of Mike Doyle and has returned to active duty after being captured briefly and injured at the Russian Consulate.

Before Day 1

 * Read more about Jack Bauer before Day 1

Jack Bauer was born in Santa Monica, California, thirty-six years before Day 1, to Phillip Bauer and an unknown mother. Jack was never close to his father, nor to his brother Graem; as of Day 6, he hadn't seen either of them in nine years. He was apparently close to his father's butler and chief servant Sam, judging by their conversation in Day 6.

Before being recruited into CTU, he was a member of the United States Army's elite Special Forces, Delta Force, and of the Los Angeles Police Department's SWAT team. He also did fieldwork for the Central Intelligence Agency as a case officer in Cladestine Services.

Jack was recruited into CTU by his mentor and then-Director of Field Ops, Christopher Henderson.

Teri Bauer was Jack's wife and the mother of his daughter, Kim. After Operation Nightfall Jack became distant and withdrawn, leading to a separation six months before Day 1. During the separation Jack had an affair with Nina Myers. Shortly before Day 1 Jack moved back in with Teri and Kim and the couple began working hard to repair their marriage. Kim remained very resentful towards her mother even after Jack moved back in.

A year before Day 1, Jack built a case against Christopher Henderson, Seth Campbell, and another CTU agent and had all three arrested for taking bribes. This was a controversial operation that earned Jack the scorn and distrust of many at CTU, including Tony Almeida and Teddy Hanlin. Campbell's wife Judy ultimately committed suicide from the shame and the pressure of raising their four children alone, while Henderson's bitterness and resentment would continue for several years, up through the events of Day 5.

In 1999, Jack was assigned to interrogate the brother of Abu Fayed, who had been implicated in the bombing of the U.S. embassy in Lebanon. Jack was too rough on him, however, and Fayed's brother was ultimately killed in the process.

Day 1

 * Read more about Jack Bauer on Day 1



Shortly after midnight, Jack's daughter Kim snuck out of the house. Jack and his wife Teri were handling the situation, when Jack was called into work. Jack was forced to leave and after he arrived at CTU, he learned that their was a possible assassination attempt on Senator David Palmer. As the Special Agent in Charge of CTU, Jack was put in charge of the investigation. He also learned from Richard Walsh that their is a mole inside CTU.

After the death of Scott Baylor and Walsh, the only people Jack could trust were Nina Myers and Jamey Farrell. Jack eventually learned that his daughter was kidnapped and Ira Gaines began to blackmail him. If Jack didn't follow Gaines' orders, Gaines would kill Kim. After Jack switched a keycard, that had information on the Palmer hit, he was forced to help Jonathan assassinate Palmer. However, Jack was able to create a diversion and save Palmer's life.

Jack was arrested by the FBI, but he was able to escape. Teri also ended up getting kidnapped and Jack was able to get in touch with her. With help from Nina and Tony Almeida, Jack successfully rescued his family. However, Ryan Chappelle and Alberta Green took him into custody for the attempted assassination of Senator Palmer. When Jack met with Palmer, they realized that the sons of Victor Drazen were getting revenge for their father's death. With help from Palmer, Jack was reinstated at CTU.

Eventually Jack was lead to a detention facility and he was shocked when he discovered that Victor Drazen was still alive. With help from Mark DeSalvo, Jack transported Drazen, but Alexis Drazen had the power shut down at the facility. Jack ended up getting taken hostage and the Drazens were willing to trade Jack for Alexis Drazen, who was in CTU custody. After George Mason received pressure from Palmer, he went forward with the trade.

After stopping a second attempt on Palmer's life, Jack went to meet with the Drazens, as they recaptured his daughter. Before going forward with the trade, Jack got a call from Nina and learned Kim was dead. Jack killed Victor and Andre in cold blood and when he realized Nina lied to him, he sent proof to Mason and she was arrested. Jack was horrified when he found out that Nina had killed Teri.

After Day 1
After Teri's death, Kim blamed her father and moved away from home. Jack became depressed and went on indefinite leave from CTU. Until the events of Day 6, Jack even stopped talking to his family, not even talking to his father and brother since Teri's funeral.

Day 2


George Mason and Tony Almeida requested that Jack come in to help with the nuclear weapon crisis of Day 2. Initally, Jack refused to help, but agreed to come in on a limited basis when President David Palmer personally asked for his assistance.

Jack contacted Kim and told her to get out of Los Angeles. However, she stayed in the city to help Megan Matheson, giving Jack cause to worry about her safety for most of the day. When Jack volunteered for the suicide mission to fly a nuclear bomb into the Mojave Desert, he and Kim had a chance to say goodbye. However, George Mason took over the mission at the last minute, and Jack survived with a new lease on life.

Later in the day, an audio recording seeming to implicate three Middle-Eastern countries in the attack turned up. Jack believed it to be false, and teamed up with Kate Warner, Yusuf Auda, and Jonathan Wallace to try and find proof. When he found the man who created the recording, Alex Hewitt, he discovered that Sherry Palmer had a part in the earlier events of the day. Jack convinced Sherry to wear a wire and elicit a confession from Peter Kingsley, and was able to save David Palmer's presidency. Jack killed thirty people on Day 2. He then returned to work for CTU.

24: The Game
Six months after the events of Day 2, a new terrorist threat introduced Jack to Chase Edmunds, and the two found they worked well together. Kim was kidnapped during the course of the day, but Jack rescued her - only to have girlfriend Kate Warner taken as well. He killed Peter Madsen, who kidnapped Kim, and then took off after Max. After a firefight on a yacht, Kate was safe, and Chase and Tony Almeida took a wounded Jack to the hospital.

Midnight Sun
Undercover with environmental group Global Peace for a Cleaner Environment, Jack took down a group of eco-terrorists trying to sabotage the oil field under the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge. Chase was also loaned to CTU Fairbanks for this operation.

Stories
Some time after the game, Jack went undercover with drug lords Hector and Ramon Salazar and became addicted to heroin as part of his cover. During this time, the Salazars sent him to the Hotel Long Beach to pick up a package and prove his loyalty to them. While there, he and undercover DEA agent Enrique Hinojosa stopped a group of Chechen separatists from blowing up the hotel and two ambassadors.

Jack tried to fight his addiction; however, he was not able to quit until he got into a drug rehabilitation program. He also organized an operation to get Ramon Salazar put in prison. At the same time, Chase Edmunds transfered over to CTU Los Angeles as Jack's partner. Jack got Kim a position at CTU Los Angeles, hoping to keep her safely under his watch.

Day 3


Bauer was the head of field ops at the CTU Los Angeles domestic unit during Day 3 and was a key part of the mission to secure the deadly Cordilla Virus.

Bauer discovered that his partner, Chase Edmunds, was romantically involved with his daughter Kim Bauer and started treating Edmunds differently. Bauer later realized that his behavior was unacceptable and decided to accept the relationship.

Day 3 began as an undercover sting operation set up by Gael Ortega, Tony Almeida and Bauer to get a hold of the Cordilla Virus. In order to do that,they needed to break Ramon Salazar out of prison while maintaining Jack's cover and create a fake threat for CTU on chasing down Kyle Singer. However, once they got to buy the virus, Nina Myers, the woman who killed his wife, showed up to bid on the virus.

Michael Amador, the man who was selling the virus, double crossed both of them and fled back to Los Angeles. Myers was captured but tried to escape while being questioned. During her escape attempt Myers was discovered by Kimberly Bauer who threatened to shoot her. Nina didn't believe her and tried to kill Kim, but Jack shot her before she could get a shot off. As Nina laid on the ground, injured, Bauer shot Nina in cold blood.

Another lead led Bauer to find Stephen Saunders, a man with whom he worked on Operation Nightfall, was behind the Cordilla Virus. Bauer was ordered by President Palmer to kill Ryan Chappelle in order to prevent the release of the Cordilla Virus into the population. Although Chappelle and Bauer had always been at odds, this action greatly disturbed him. This act was honored with the silent clock.

Bauer was able to get to Saunders through Saunders' daughter, but was forced to threaten to throw Saunders' daughter into the Chandler Plaza Hotel and intentionally expose her to the virus. He was about three feet from the door when Saunders agreed to help stop the release of the virus. At the end of Day 3, Bauer was forced to chop off the arm of Chase Edmunds in order to stop the Cordilla Virus from being released, as the virus was attached to Edmunds' arm. After the crisis was over, Bauer returned to his car and cried. He received a call to return to work, and immediately started his car. Jack killed fourteen people in Day 3 including Nina Myers and Arthur Rabens.

After Day 3


Three months after the events of Day 3, Erin Driscoll became the Special Agent in Charge of CTU Los Angeles. She was uncompromising and saw Jack's previous addiction to heroin as a major weakness, so she fired him. She offered to help him find a job, but he fiercely declined. He got a job at the Department of Defense, working for Secretary of Defense James Heller. Jack met and became romantically involved with Audrey Raines while working with her father. He did not return to CTU until Day 4.

Day 4

 * Read more about Jack Bauer on Day 4.

On Day 4, Jack Bauer worked as an assistant for Secretary of Defense James Heller. Heller and his policy analyst Audrey Raines were abducted by men working for Habib Marwan, prompting Jack to locate and rescue them. Jack later discovered that the terrorists had acquired an override device, which would trigger a meltdown of all the nuclear plants across the United States. CTU prevented this from happening, but exhausted their resources to overlook a potential attack on Air Force One, carrying President John Keeler. The attack on Air Force One was successful, but the threat of the nuclear football falling into the Marwan's hands was a threat on a larger scale. Jack Bauer led a search mission to acquire the football, but produced no results. Jack was led to Lee Jong, a Chinese citizen who was known to have connections to Marwan. However, Lee Jong took sanctuary within the Chinese consulate, making apprehension of him legally impossible. Jack, therefore, led a covert operation to kidnap Lee Jong from the consulate in order to interrogate him. Lee Jong led Jack to Marwan's location, and was able to prevent a nuclear warhead, controlled by the stolen football, from detonating. However, the Chinese government discovered that Jack was involved in the consul invasion, and demanded him to be handed over. To prevent this, Jack faked his death to throw off the Chinese, and disappeared.

After Day 4


With chances of being handed over to the Chinese by President Charles Logan's administration, Jack was forced to go into hiding, not having contact with his daughter Kim, or his lover Audrey Raines. Jack moved from location to location, before settling down in Mojave.

Twelve months after the events that took place in Day 4, Jack met up with Chloe O'Brian in Chicago, and she informed him on how Kim handled his death. Chloe then reveals that someone hacked into her harddrive and found out that he is alive. After Chloe left, Jack was pursued by a motorcyle and a black automobile. After an intense chase, Jack is able to lose them.

Eventually Jack went under the alias Frank Flynn, and got a job as an oil driller, working in the Mojave Desert. Jack rented an apartment from Diane Huxley, and the two were romantically involved. Diane's son Derek had a hard time accepting Jack, as he felt Jack was hiding something.

Day 5

 * Read more about Jack Bauer on Day 5

During Day 5, Jack Bauer was forced to come out of hiding following the assassination attempts of David Palmer, Michelle Dessler, Tony Almeida, and Chloe O'Brian. Trying to investigate Palmer's murder, he followed a lead to the Ontario Airport, which subsequently had a hostage crisis. Working together with CTU, he resolved the crisis. However, one of the terrorists posing as a hostage escaped, using the hostage conflict as a scapegoat to steal 20 canisters of Sentox nerve gas. Jack worked throughout the day to prevent the nerve gas from being deployed on targets throughout the United States, then pursued the players that supplied the Sentox to these terrorists.

After Day 5


The Chinese sought after American National Security information and they brought Jack back to China, torturing him until he would give up any sensitive information. Jack stayed silent and he struggled to stay alive, not wanting to die for nothing. Seven months into his incarceration, Jack was tricked into revealing that Hong Wai was a spy for the United States. While Jack wouldn't reveal any information through torture, Cheng Zhi created a false resuce attempt in which two American mercenaries masqeraded as Special Operations agents to retrieve Jack from China. As they escaped, the two agents and Jack met up with Hong, who Jack clearly recognized. Zhi was able to determine Hong was the spy and he executed him, and had Jack returned to his cell.

Day 6

 * Read more about Jack Bauer on Day 6

During Day 6, Jack Bauer was returned by the Chinese government on the request of the United States. Terrorist Abu Fayed demanded that Jack be killed as vengeance for murdering Fayed's brother. CTU delivered Jack to Fayed in order to supposedly stop the attacks. Learning that Fayed was the main conspirator behind the terrorist attacks throughout and short before Day 6; and that Hamri Al-Assad, the former terrorist blamed for the attacks was actually innocent, Jack escaped from Fayed's custody and saved Assad from being assassinated by the American government. Fayed would later detonate a suitcase nuclear device in the city of Valencia, resulting in Jack searching for the people responsible for the terrorists acquiring this weapon. In his investigation, his father and his brother were implicated for their company's involvement with the nuclear devices. Jack would discover from his family members that four more nuclear weapons were in the possession of Abu Fayed and Russian general Dmitri Gredenko. Jack used the remainder of the day to prevent further terrorist nuclear attacks throughout the country.

Day 4

 * Audrey Raines: Is it going to be hard?
 * Jack Bauer: What?
 * Audrey Raines: Going back to CTU. Seeing Driscoll again.
 * Jack Bauer: I don't blame her for her decision.
 * Audrey Raines: How can that be? She forced you out of CTU.
 * Jack Bauer: She didn't want an ex-junkie on her staff. That's not unreasonable.
 * Audrey Raines: You weren't a junkie. You were doing your job.
 * Jack Bauer: I was addicted to heroin. It didn't matter why.

Day 5

 * Jack Bauer: What's your status?
 * Petty Officer Rooney: My status is... he's dead.


 * Jack Bauer: Dammit!


 * Jack Bauer: Yeah?
 * Mike Novick: The President has just notified Secret Service he's going to be delayed.
 * Jack Bauer: How long?
 * Mike Novick:  He didn't say, but Mrs. Logan knows we need as much time as possible. Jack... if Logan doesn't confess... how far are you actually willing to go?
 * Jack Bauer: As far as I have to.


 * Christopher Henderson: Hold it, Jack! Now lower your arms, real slow, and turn around! You weren't ever really gonna let me go, were you?
 * Jack Bauer: No.
 * Christopher Henderson: (after finding out his gun had no ammunition) Good for you, Jack.
 * Jack Bauer: You were responsible for the deaths of David Palmer, Tony Almeida, and Michelle Dessler. They were friends of mine.
 * Christopher Henderson: That's the way it works. (Jack shoots him twice in the chest. He falls down, dead.)


 * Jack Bauer: Captain... I can fly this thing if I have to, which leaves you with one of two choices; you either do as I say and you live, or you don't and you die for nothing. Do you understand me?


 * Cheng Zhi:You surely must be aware, Mr. Bauer, that China has a long memory. Only eighteen months ago, you invaded our territory and killed our consul.  Did you really think that we would forget?
 * Jack Bauer: I know how this works... I need to make one phone call... Please... just one phone call. (Silence) Kill me... Just... kill me...
 * Cheng Zhi: Kill you? You're far too valuable to kill, Mr. Bauer.


 * Jack Bauer: A year and a half ago, I was warned that my life was in danger by someone within the government. I was told the only way I could stay alive was to create the illusion that I was dead.  I was forced to deceive people that I loved.  My only daughter will never forgive me.  As I see the depth of your corruption unfold, I have no doubt that you are that source of danger.  David Palmer was a great man, and he was a great President.  He was also my friend.  He tried to warn me about you and now he is dead.  Other people tried to help me, and they are dead, too.  So Mr. Logan, I hope you understand... I have absolutely nothing to lose.  You are going to be held accountable for your part of everything that happened today.  You will not be able to hide behind the Presidency - right here, right now, you are going to face justice!  And make no mistake about this, this is personal.  And if you think for a second that I am scared to put a bullet in your brain, you don't know me.  I am going to ask you one last time. Who are your co-conspirators? You have until the count of three, or I will kill you.


 * Jack Bauer: What are the names of your co-conspirators?
 *  Charles Logan: There are no co-conspirators, because there is no conspir...
 * Jack Bauer: Walt Cummings! Christopher Henderson!  James Nathanson! have all admitted to being part of this conspiracy, now they are dead!  Right before Christopher Henderson died, he acknowledged that there were others, what are their names?
 * Charles Logan: A man will say anything under torture, this won't mean a thing--
 * Jack Bauer: Mr. Logan, I'm not here to torture you, but you are gonna tell what I want to know, or so help me God, I will kill you.

Day 6

 * Jack Bauer: We are not the same! (Then pushes Graem And Chair to the floor)

See more memorable quotes by Jack Bauer....

Background information and notes

 * Jack Bauer is the only character to appear in every episode of the series. Only Jack and Aaron Pierce have appeared in all six seasons.
 * The Bauer home phone number during Day 1 was 310-555-3067 and they lived on 10th.
 * Jack's password for the video archives as of Day 1 was C22717. This was given to Paul Wilson in the finale episode of the season.
 * As seen in the premiere episode of Day 3, Jack's Badge Number is 9431066 and Jack's Employee Number is 68025638X. We also see that he is 5' 10 '', 168 pounds, and has green eyes.
 * During Day 1 and Day 2, Jack's primary weapon was the SIG P228. His weapon of choice during Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, and Day 6 was a Heckler & Koch USP Compact.
 * Jack is able to speak and understand Russian, having used it to gain access to the Russian Consulate during Day 6.

Other media

 * He was parodied on an episode of the children's show Sesame Street in a sketch also known as 24. The Sesame Street version lasts for 24 seconds (as opposed to 24 hours) and features the Muppetized Jack Bauer hanging from a cliff for the duration until he finally realizes that he was only a few inches from the lower ledge, and lets himself drop.  Jack and Chloe will also appear on an episode of The Simpsons called "24 Minutes."

Action figures

 * McFarlane Toys is making two Jack Bauer action figures. The first is set to release in 2007. it would've been released earlier, but Kiefer Sutherland tortured and burned the first edition of the figure. He later apologized for the issue and the figure was re-made into the current edition set to release.
 * Medicom Toy produced two 12-inch action figures of Jack Bauer as he is portrayed during Season 4 (One with CTU action gear and vest, another with suit and tie) and is set to release a Season 5 version in 2007.
 * Diamond Select Toys is set to release four series of Minimates with characters from the earlier seasons and a 12-inch Jack Bauer action figure with three different outfits and head sculpts.