About the NCIS...
NCIS follows a fictional team of Naval Criminal Investigative Service Major Case Response Team (MCRT) special agents headquartered at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C. It is described by the actors and producers (on special features on DVD releases in the United States) as being distinguished by its comic elements, ensemble acting and character-driven plots.
NCIS is the primary law enforcement and counter-intelligence arm of the United States Department of the Navy, which includes the United States Marine Corps. NCIS investigates all major criminal offenses (felonies)—crimes punishable under the Uniform Code of Military Justice by confinement of more than one year—within the Department of the Navy. The MCRT is frequently assigned to high profile cases such as the death of the U.S. president'smilitary aide, a bomb situation on a U.S. Navy warship, the death of a celebrity on a reality show set on a USMC base, terrorist threats, and kidnappings.
The MCRT is led by Supervisory Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon). Gibbs’s team is composed of Special Agent and Senior Field Agent Anthony "Tony" DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly), Special Agent Timothy McGee (Sean Murray) and Probationary Special Agent (formerly Mossadliaison officer) Ziva David (Cote de Pablo), who replaced Caitlin "Kate" Todd (Sasha Alexander) when she was shot by Ari Haswari (Rudolf Martin) at the end of season two. Ari was then killed by his half-sister Ziva at the beginning of season three. The team is assisted in their investigations by Chief Medical Examiner Donald "Ducky" Mallard (David McCallum), Medical Assistant Jimmy Palmer (Brian Dietzen), who replaced Gerald Jackson (Pancho Demmings), and Forensic Specialist Abigail "Abby" Sciuto (Pauley Perrette).
It has been revealed through flashbacks that the 'original' head of the MCRT was Special Agent Mike Franks, who led the unit when it was part of the Naval Investigative Service (NIS), the predecessor agency of the NCIS. He recruited Gibbs shortly after Gibbs' retirement from the Marine Corps, eventually retiring himself some years later. After Franks' departure, Gibbs recruited DiNozzo from the Baltimore Police Department's Homicide Section. The two were briefly joined by Vivian Blackadder, whom Gibbs recruited from the FBI. In the second part of the NCIS pilot, Blackadder allowed her emotions to nearly derail an anti-terror operation in Spain. Gibbs is noticeably disappointed; Blackadder is not present in the series' first regular episode, replaced by Caitlin Todd, a Secret Service agent who resigns to join Gibbs' team. McGee first appears as a Field Agent assigned to the Norfolk Field Office. He uses his computer skills to aid the MCRT in subsequent investigations through the rest of the first season, until he is officially promoted with his own desk at the Navy Yard in the beginning of the second season.
NCIS is currently led by Director Leon Vance (Rocky Carroll). The first director seen in the series, Thomas Morrow (Alan Dale), left after being promoted to Deputy Director of DHS. Jenny Shepard (Lauren Holly) was appointed director after Morrow; she was killed in a shootout at the end of the fifth season, thus making Vance the director of the whole organization.
NCIS is the primary law enforcement and counter-intelligence arm of the United States Department of the Navy, which includes the United States Marine Corps. NCIS investigates all major criminal offenses (felonies)—crimes punishable under the Uniform Code of Military Justice by confinement of more than one year—within the Department of the Navy. The MCRT is frequently assigned to high profile cases such as the death of the U.S. president'smilitary aide, a bomb situation on a U.S. Navy warship, the death of a celebrity on a reality show set on a USMC base, terrorist threats, and kidnappings.
The MCRT is led by Supervisory Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon). Gibbs’s team is composed of Special Agent and Senior Field Agent Anthony "Tony" DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly), Special Agent Timothy McGee (Sean Murray) and Probationary Special Agent (formerly Mossadliaison officer) Ziva David (Cote de Pablo), who replaced Caitlin "Kate" Todd (Sasha Alexander) when she was shot by Ari Haswari (Rudolf Martin) at the end of season two. Ari was then killed by his half-sister Ziva at the beginning of season three. The team is assisted in their investigations by Chief Medical Examiner Donald "Ducky" Mallard (David McCallum), Medical Assistant Jimmy Palmer (Brian Dietzen), who replaced Gerald Jackson (Pancho Demmings), and Forensic Specialist Abigail "Abby" Sciuto (Pauley Perrette).
It has been revealed through flashbacks that the 'original' head of the MCRT was Special Agent Mike Franks, who led the unit when it was part of the Naval Investigative Service (NIS), the predecessor agency of the NCIS. He recruited Gibbs shortly after Gibbs' retirement from the Marine Corps, eventually retiring himself some years later. After Franks' departure, Gibbs recruited DiNozzo from the Baltimore Police Department's Homicide Section. The two were briefly joined by Vivian Blackadder, whom Gibbs recruited from the FBI. In the second part of the NCIS pilot, Blackadder allowed her emotions to nearly derail an anti-terror operation in Spain. Gibbs is noticeably disappointed; Blackadder is not present in the series' first regular episode, replaced by Caitlin Todd, a Secret Service agent who resigns to join Gibbs' team. McGee first appears as a Field Agent assigned to the Norfolk Field Office. He uses his computer skills to aid the MCRT in subsequent investigations through the rest of the first season, until he is officially promoted with his own desk at the Navy Yard in the beginning of the second season.
NCIS is currently led by Director Leon Vance (Rocky Carroll). The first director seen in the series, Thomas Morrow (Alan Dale), left after being promoted to Deputy Director of DHS. Jenny Shepard (Lauren Holly) was appointed director after Morrow; she was killed in a shootout at the end of the fifth season, thus making Vance the director of the whole organization.
