Attacks on CTU Los Angeles

Although it may seem like a secure environment, CTU Los Angeles has often been the site of attacks designed to hinder or halt the investigation of the agency.

There have been three attacks on the building, all of which have crippled it and left many CTU agents injured and dead.

Day 2 Bombing
During Day 2, three bombs were placed in CTU Los Angeles and detonated. Although the blasts destroyed much of the building and killed or wounded 49 people, CTU were still able to operate from it for the remainder of the day.

The attack was planned by Joseph Wald and executed by Eddie Grant and his men, anti-federalists who wanted to strike a government building. However, the date had been set by Syed Ali, whose goal was to cripple CTU's investigation into the nuclear bomb he had smuggled into Los Angeles.

Wald and his crew, including undercover CTU Agent Jack Bauer, cut off main phone lines to CTU Los Angeles, forcing them to call out the phone company to repair the problem. When the phone company arrived, Grant took Cam Strocker hostage and stole the uniforms for his crew. With the uniforms and ID, they were able to enter the building, place the bombs, and escape.

Unable to get through to CTU himself, Jack called Lynne Kresge at President Palmer's Northwest Regional Operations Complex, telling her to use their resources to alert CTU. She told Eric Rayburn, who argued that if the attack didn't go off, Jack's cover would be blown, and they would never find Wald (at the time, the only lead to the nuclear bomb). Rayburn outmaneuvered Kresge, keeping the information from Palmer until it was too late. Meanwhile, he ordered CTU to transfer all the information on the bomb over to the NSA.

When Wald's crew got to CTU LA, Jack was able to free Strocker, who went and warned Tony Almeida. Realizing that this was the reason Rayburn had ordered CTU to send their information to him, Almeida ordered an evacuation of the building; however, the bombs went off during it.

Paula Schaeffer was trapped under some debris, hemorrhaging, and needed immediate surgery. After an argument with Tony, George Mason ordered that she be woken up so that she could give them the encryption key to access CTU's files on the nuclear warhead. She died shortly after giving George the key. Other agents killed included Ivers and Clark and Olivia was injured with a wounded left leg. The final casualty tally was 30 dead, 17 wounded, and 2 in critical condition. However, the people killed by the bombs were in the bullpen and below who did not leave in time. As seen in the episode, Michelle and Tony are directing people out of the building. Those people survived, while others near the bombs were killed or injured.

24: The Game EMP
During 24: The Game, a low level EMP Bomb was detonated inside CTU Los Angeles after Joseph Sin-Chung tricked Ryan Chappelle into triggering it. The bomb destroyed all electrical systems for a short time, including the building's security. Terrorists led by Peter Madsen and Sid Wilson stormed the building and took many agents hostage.

Michelle Dessler and Kim Bauer were inside the building when the bomb went off and were able to hide from the terrorists. Although Michelle was later captured, Kim was able to reach a panic room. When she saw CTU Agent Sean Walker being killed, however, she gave the terrorists the CTU Hard Drive.

Day 5 Nerve Gas
During Day 5, terrorist Ostroff obtained Lynn McGill's key card and used it to enter CTU Los Angeles. He then set up a nerve gas canister in the ventilation system.

The attack killed over 40% of CTU staff. In an early estimate, Bill Buchanan told Karen Hayes that he would need about 55 people to restaff the building, making the CTU count between 135 and 140. However, this figure includes CTU operatives who were out in the field at the time of the attack, such as Curtis Manning and those off duty at the time. Almost all of the CTU agents in the building at the time were killed; the only survivors were a small handful who managed to make it to sealed rooms. When the gas threatened to eat through the door seals, Lynn McGill and Harry Swinton sacrified their lives so that McGill could restart the ventilation and flush the gas out of the building.

Besides McGill and Swinton, Carrie Bendis and Edgar Stiles died during the attack, although Carrie was actually killed before the main part of the attack by a knife thorugh her neck. Tony Almeida also died after attempting to kill Christopher Henderson during the chaos caused by the attack.

Day 6 Assault
During Day 6, an assault team under control of Cheng Zhi was ordered to enter CTU to capture Josh Bauer, in return for a repaired subcircuit board from a suitcase nuke from Phillip Bauer, whom has provided Cheng with CTU's security codes. The assault team entered CTU from under the building, disabling outbound communications and security cameras to ensure their success.

They were able to enter the building successfully, despite the staff discovering the actions and initiating lockdowns. The assault team were able to take over the command center, killing Milo Pressman, who covered for Nadia Yassir, saving her life.

When the assault team arrived at the room holding Josh Bauer, Jack Bauer (who was allowed to assist by his guard) was able to kill the apprehenders and attempted to hide Josh in CTU's ventilation system. Both Jack and Marilyn Bauer were captured and taken to the command center as hostages.

In order to retrieve Josh, Marilyn's life was put on the line unless he revealed himself. Before his time was up, Josh left the ventilation system and was taken down to the command center to be transported to Cheng Zhi.