Operation Nightfall
The Operation Nightfall team members
Type:	Covert government operation
Created by:	David Palmer
First mentioned:	Day 1: 10:00am-11:00am
Last mentioned:	Day 3: 4:00am-5:00am
Appears in:	Findings at CTU, 24: Nightfall

Operation Nightfall was a secret mission authorized by Senator David Palmer to assassinate Balkan war criminal Victor Drazen. A Delta Force team, led by Jack Bauer, was organized by Robert Ellis for the mission. Bauer was ordered to assemble a six-man operation detachment team that would infiltrate Kosovo by air, eliminate the threat posed by Victor Drazen, and move to a distant extraction point where they would be extracted by a Pave Hawk helicopter.

However, when Tony Webster of the CIA discovered Nightfall, he leaked it to Drazen and set up the operation for failure so that his own conflicting mission to extract Drazen alive would succeed. Drazen survived the air strike, but his wife Elena, daughter Martina, and body double were killed. Of the incursion team, only Jack Bauer and Stephen Saunders survived the disaster.

The Operational Detachment teamEdit

• Captain Jack Bauer (Team Leader)
• Warrant Officer Dwayne Shelton (former Green Beret)
• First Sergeant Brice Gardener (weapons officer)
• First Sergeant Haj Illijec (communications officer)
• First Sergeant Gary Graham (medical officer)
• Technical Sergeant Roger Voss (Air Force Special Operations combat controller)
• Master Sergeant Fred Peltzer (intelligence specialist)
• Agent Stephen Saunders (MI6 officer)

The MissionEdit

Once they had made visual confirmation of Victor Drazen, they were to call down "Hammer One" - the codename for the F-18 Hornet that would make the air strike against the Drazen Compound.

They arrived at the Drazen Compound at 0800 hours and completed reconnaissance at 0900 hours. At 1111 hours they spotted an armored car approach the compound and watched the man they assumed to be Victor Drazen (in actuality a decoy) enter the house. They called Hammer One who had an ETA of 6 minutes.

Unbeknownst to either Jack Bauer or Victor Drazen, Elena and Martina Drazen had returned home from vacation a day early. They were killed in the blast that was meant to kill Victor.

After the explosion, Bauer called for his team to leave the area when he heard shots and realized their radios were being jammed. Bauer hurried to their position to find Shelton, Gardener and Graham dead. Illjec and Peltz were on their way to the extraction point. Bauer followed them and realized they were being tracked by their radio frequency. It was too late for the others, who were shot and killed by the remains of Drazen's men who had located them as they called to be picked up. It was believed Bauer was the only survivor of the Delta team, however this was proven false when Stephen Saunders who was believed dead, turned up during Day 3 to exact revenge on America and Jack Bauer for being left behind enemy lines.

From the Congressional InvestigationEdit

Intelligence sources had located Victor Drazen's compound in a Kosovar village called Dakovica. Under instruction from NSA agent Robert Ellis, Jack Bauer put together a six man team charged with eliminating Drazen.

Drazen's bodyguards had stolen military equipment, such as anti-aircraft guns, to defend the compound against attack. Using laser guidance provided by Bauer's team, an F-18 destroyed Drazen's home using an SLAM missile.

The team's escape was hindered due to jamming of their digital radio frequency, preventing communication between Bauer and his men and the Pave Hawk rescue helicopter. All of Bauer's team were killed but he managed to escape.

Bauer claimed that the mission was set up to fail and, with he and his team killed, Drazen would then be captured, held in the DoD's secret prison complex and used for intelligence purposes. Jack suspected the activities of a traitor high up in the intelligence community and well above Nina Myers.

Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Jason Newton of the DoD was called to the committee to provide further information about Operation Nightfall and the detention facilities.

The following details are a selection of his comments:

• Intelligence suggested that Drazen was plotting to develop a new international terrorist organization, using wealth acquired through his criminal activities.

• Robert Ellis sought authorization from Senator Palmer, (as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee), to undertake Operation Nightfall.

• As soon as it was discovered that Drazen has survived the attack a second covert operation was actioned to snatch him.

• Unbeknownst to the Senate, the NSA and the UN, Drazen was then held in the secret prison network.

Newton issued a specific denial that the radio frequencies used by Bauer's team were provided to Drazen's men.

SourcesEdit

• The House Special Subcommittee's Findings at CTU
• Nightfall

Background information and notesEdit

• The team members that were listed in Findings at CTU do not coincide with those that appear in the Nightfall mission, or even the number of people on the team photograph seen during Day 3.