Counter Terrorist Unit

The Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) is a fictional U.S. government anti-terrorist agency in the television action series 24.

CTU grew out of Homeland Security's Counter Terrorism office when officials determined that the United States would be better served by a separate agency operating independently and focusing solely on researching, identifying, tracking, and stopping terrorists and terrorist activities. From its inception, CTU faced hostility and skepticism from other federal law enforcement agencies. Despite bureaucratic resistance, within a few years CTU had become a major force.

Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the Counter Terrorist Unit established domestic units in major U.S. metropolitan areas. With these field offices in several American cities, CTU maintains active liaisons with a variety of agencies, most notably Department of Homeland Security, the CIA, and the National Security Agency.

CTU domestic units are made up of investigative agents, intelligence agents, undercover operatives, crack tactical squads for major raids, and special agents to oversee unit activities. Field agents report to both the director of field operations and the assistant director. Analysts report to the Internet protocol manager and/or the senior analyst. The head of field ops and the senior analyst, in turn, report to the deputy director. The Special Agent in Charge (SAC) oversees all field and intelligence activities at the domestic unit and reports directly to CTU Division Headquarters, which oversees all operations with that region of the state. Division reports to our District Headquarters, which oversees all operations with that region of the country. District getting involved in a situation is extremely rare, and mainly exist for the coordination of Division.