House Special Subcommittee


 * For the titular novel, see 24: The House Special Subcommittee's Findings at CTU.

The House Special Subcommittee was a three-member subcommittee of the United States House of Representatives, convened to investigate the Drazen family's attempted assassination of Senator David Palmer and CTU Special Agent in Charge Jack Bauer, on the day of the California Presidential Primary.

Members

 * Chairman Jayce Fulbright, Democratic Representative from California
 * Sam, a congressional aide
 * Pauline Driscoll, Democratic Representative from Connecticut
 * Roy Schneider, Republican Representative from Texas

Proceedings
The Subcommittee intended to investigate, among other items, the following questions:
 * The illegal sanctioning by a sitting United States Senator, David Palmer, of a covert mission to assassinate a foreign national, Victor Drazen, without trial
 * The existence of a top-secret Department of Defense clandestine prison system on American soil
 * The rank corruption within the CIA's Counter Terrorist Unit, host to two moles working for Drazen's network, Jamey Farrell and Nina Myers

The hearings were held over a number of months following the primary. During the proceedings, Senator David Palmer won the Presidential election, making him President-elect. In addition, during the Thanksgiving recess, Palmer officially announced his divorce from Sherry, his wife of twenty-five years, revealing that the Senator had experienced a personal ordeal of his own on primary day.

Testimony
Over a several-month period soon after the California Presidential Primary, the House Special Subcommittee heard testimony from a variety of key players involved in the events of Primary Day, primarily Jack Bauer, the CTU Los Angeles agent whose wife and daughter were kidnapped by the Drazens as revenge for the failed mission in Kosovo. After a detailed recounting of the mission itself, Bauer provided an hour-by-hour accounting of his actions on the day of the primary, first his off-book rescue of his family from Ira Gaines and later his discovery of Victor Drazen's survival.

Other witnesses for the Subcommittee's investigation included:
 * Kim Bauer, teenage daughter of Jack Bauer and twice-kidnapped by the Drazens
 * Tony Almeida, third in command at CTU Los Angeles
 * Phil Parslow, friend of the late Teri Bauer who assisted during her episode of dissociative amnesia
 * Elizabeth Nash, the Palmer campaign worker who became Alexis Drazen's inside source (via a pre-written statement)
 * Kevin Newton, Judge Advocate for the DIA's Special Unit for Counterintelligence Initiatives and party to the DOD's MUDD network

Supporting evidence

 * A confidential report prepared for the Subcommittee members contained detailed dossiers on virtually every key player of the day's events:
 * Alexis Drazen's personal digital assistant, recovered from his Mercedes sedan, contained a wealth of information on the planning and motivation of the Drazens' mission, as well as insight into his personal relationship with Palmer staffer Elizabeth Nash. CTU analyst Darinka Brankovich translated the device's Serbian and thoroughly documented her findings.
 * Additional testimony from individuals who could not attend the hearings in person:
 * Elizabeth Nash submitted a written statement on her relationship with Alexis and her unexpected attempt to kill him during a sting operation, claiming her therapist said she was in too "fragile" a state to appear in person.
 * Erica Vasquez was debriefed, primarily in Spanish, at a separate time by Tony Almeida.

Conclusions
Representative Jayce Fulbright wrote the concluding notes for the subcommittee's report. The representatives, after pursuing numerous avenues of questioning, determined that in spite of the numerous failures of the American intelligence apparatus, Agent Jack Bauer deserved praise for his saving the President-Elect and exposing a dangerous spy within the Counter Terrorist Unit. In addition, Tony Almeida was commended for his loyalty and dedication. Though both men were compromised by their relationship with Nina Myers, neither were found guilty of criminal violations under the circumstances. However, the committee declined to offer the same commendations to CTU's regional office, whose management – namely Ryan Chappelle and Alberta Green – obstructed both Bauer and the subcommittee itself.

It was revealed that a spy, codenamed DAGGER, within the American intelligence network was responsible for aiding the Drazens in their mission and remained at large. Another entity was responsible for the failure of Operation Nightfall, intending all along to capture him in a separate mission and hold him in the MUDD prison network. Ultimately, these matters were turned over to the Joint Congressional Intelligence Oversight Committee for further investigation.

Leak
Some time after the investigation concluded, the Subcommitee's report was leaked by a confidential insider to journalist Marc Cerasini. Supplementing the document with additional reporting by Alice Alfonis and CTU pathologist George Capaldo, Cerasini published the report through HarperCollins, revealing the full truth of the failed assassination to the public for the first time. The report was described as the most significant expose on government misconduct since the New York Times' publication of the Pentagon Papers.