I graduated with a bachelor's degree in English literature from UCLA, and a master's degree in criminology and law from UC Berkeley.
After finishing university, I worked as a Los Angeles Police Department SWAT team member, and in the U.S. Army's elite Delta Force. I also did fieldwork for the Central Intelligence Agency before being seconded to its domestic branch, the Counter Terrorist Unit.
I held the position of Director of CTU Los Angeles during the attempted assassination of President (then Senator) David Palmer. During that day, Bauer's wife Teri and his daughter Kim were kidnapped by Victor Drazen, a man I thought I had killed in a covert mission called Operation Nightfall in Kosovo two years earlier. My colleague/former love interest Nina Myers (who turned out to be a traitor) killed Teri Bauer(wife) before being arrested. I was so distraught over Teri's death that I resigned as CTU Director and became an inactive CTU agent.
Eighteen months later, I was called back to duty by President Palmer to help CTU stop a terrorist group known as Second Wave from detonating a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles. After the incidents , I was appointed Director of Field Operations by new CTU Los Angeles Director Tony Almeida.
However, Tony was removed from CTU three years later after committing an act of treason to save his wife's life, and I was forced to leave the institution and became employed by the Department of Defense. I became involved with the daughter of the Secretary of Defense, Audrey Raines, and it was apparently a serious relationship. However, after I was called back to CTU in to help them stop a series of attacks against the United States masterminded by a terrorist named Habib Marwan, Audrey decided that she could not handle my hectic life when I was working for CTU, and we separated.
I have been described by some as an uncompromising patriot of the United States of America due to the dedication I show for my job, although my political and ethical perspectives are never really revealed in great detail. One recurring theme however, is my belief in the mantra, "the ends justify the means": that is, I believe obtaining a desired result is more important than how I obtain it, and I frequently perform controversial actions if I think it will achieve an important goal. My philosophy was perhaps best expressed after I shot and killed a restrained criminal in front of George Mason, director of CTU. George expressed dismay at My extreme action, and I replied: "That's the problem with people like you, George. You want results, but you never want to get your hands dirty." My motive was later revealed, when it turned out that murdering the crook allowed him to gain the trust of a criminal gang, which unwittingly supplied me with the information I needed to prevent a nuclear attack on the US.
I have routinely put my own life on the line, as well as the lives of those close to me, in order to serve the common good. Notably, I was faced with a situation where a terrorist threatened to release a devastating biological weapon if I did not execute one of my superiors, Ryan Chappelle. Once it was confirmed that the terrorist was not bluffing, I killed Chappelle with a bullet to the head. In another notable example, I was told to extract a Chinese scientist named Lee Jong from the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles, who had vital information needed to stop an imminent terrorist strike. During the illegal raid, Lee was shot and needed immediate medical attention to stop him from dying. When I arrived at CTU, I learned that the doctor there was already working on Paul Raines, the ex-husband of Audrey Raines (My girlfriend) who had been shot earlier trying to save MY life. Much to Audrey's horror, I drew my weapon and ordered the doctor to begin surgery on Lee. Raines went into cardiac arrest and died shortly afterward. I showed remorse for such actions, although this is largely due to My suppression of such emotions so that I can concentrate on the job at hand. I have on occasion revealed his more vulnerable side, including a notable scene at the end of the biological attack when I broke down crying after the traumatic events of the day. It is, perhaps, this vulnerable side that is most meaningful to the who I am- to remind us that I too, am human, with emotions and a sense of morals.
Following the death of my wife at the end of the assasination attampt, I sometimes seem to live a life that has little personal purpose. To me, there is no seperation of my personal life and duty. As I said to Chase Edmunds, my co-worker in field operations during the biological attacks, who was having a romantic relationship with my daughter: "You can not keep this job and lead a normal life at the same time." Although I is still attached to my daughter, I seems to be living his life mostly without her through out the most recent terrorist attacks, as she relocated to Valencia, California with Chase Edmunds.
Through the years of my service, I became a semi-personal friend of the first African-American President of the United States, David Palmer, largely due to me having saved his life more than once. A very descriptive factor of their relationship is that the President refers to me as Jack, while I address him solely and professionally as "Mr. President." Palmer, however, felt close enough to me that I was one of the first people to learn Palmer would not be seeking re-election.
My Death
At the conclusion of Day Four, I was scheduled to be handed over to the Chinese authorities due to my involvement in a secret raid on the Los Angeles Chinese Consulate that resulted in the friendly fire death of the Chinese Consul. Presidential Adviser Walt Cummings ordered Secret Service Agent Dale Spaulding to kill me once I was in custody in order to prevent the Chinese from extracting any harmful information I had. Mike Novick, chief of staff to President Charles Logan, overheard the conversation and informed his friend, former President David Palmer. Palmer then contacted me and urged me to flee CTU.
Myself, along with Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler, and Chloe O'Brian, planned an escape in which I faked his own death to avoid being taken into custody. Once Secret Service Agent Spaulding and CTU personnel left the scene, I was administered epinephrine and revived. Almeida and Dessler smuggled me out of CTU and dropped me off on a secluded road. I thanked them for all that they had done for me, then called President Palmer, thanking him as well for the advanced warning. Palmer acknowledged the country's enormous debt to me, although I was just doing my job. I replies, "it has been an honor, sir". "For all intents and purposes," Palmer stated, "Jack Bauer is dead." I hung up the phone and walked off.
Not even Kim knew the truth
My Resurrection
As day 5 begins,I has taken the identity of Frank Flynn, struggling for work at an oil yard in California. As news hits that President David Palmer has been assassinated, Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler are also targeted at their home, resulting in Michelle's death and critically injuring Tony. Completing the circle of those who know I am alive, Chloe O'Brien is also targeted, but gets away. Chloe calls me for assistance as she evades the assassins.
Returning to Los Angeles to assist her, I briefly interrogate Palmer's wounded assassin, who reveals that was being set up for Palmer's death. I killed him in retribution for killing Palmer, my friend. After regaining the trust of CTU management by assisting in the rescue of hostages at a terrorist controlled airport, I returned to CTU for the first time since my "death" and have been cleared of Palmer's murder by CIA Division Director Lynn McGill, who affirms my request to remain on the team until the current crisis is over.
Soon after my arrival at CTU, I encounter former lover Audrey Raines, on-site as a liason from the Defense Department. I am soon forced to reconsider whether I still has feelings for her after 18 months away, and six months of bonding with the woman who took me in. I decide that I am still in love with Audrey.
I was lured to Tony Almeida's bedside by a hired killer who gained access to CTU through Chloe's one night stand "Spencer", who is thought to be yet another mole in CTU, but then reveals he was recruited by White House Chief Of Staff Walt Cummings and used as a patsy to get rid of me. Spencer returns to work after it becomes clear that he's not a traitor...just a really bad judge of character. I, needless to say, kill the hitman with a pair of surgical scissors.
After trying to meet presidential advisior and David Palmer loyalist Mike Novick to warn him about Cummings, Mike and I are arrested and detained with no charges. I appeals to the sense of of duty in Aaron Pierce, an old friend. He's the President's security chief who has served in the same capacity for Palmer. He gained me access to the President, where I inform him of Cummings' actions, and threatens Cumming's life until he cracks and gives up what he knows about the terrorist plot. Currently, it appears that Cummings is not a traitor in the truest sense, in that he hatched this plot to ensure oil futures for the U.S, but his ruthlessness and willingness to kill anyone who gets in the way of his plot disgusts President Logan who orders the Secret Service to remove Cummings from his sight. It is during this exchange that I earn Logan's respect and admiration, though I do promise the President to serve him until the current crisis is over, and then return to my life of shadowy anonymity. My promise to disappear again casts a pall over his possible future plans to reunite with Audrey Raines.
On a separate note, although I seemed to have lived a life devoid of personal purpose, my new identity has given me a sense of family.
