| Richard Walsh | |
|---|---|
  | |
| Name: | Richard Walsh |
| Gender: | Male |
| Date of death: | Day 1: 1:54 AM |
| Nationality: |  American
|
| Education: | M.S. Criminology & Law, Stanford University M.S. Psychology, Brown University B.A. Sociology, University of Pittsburgh |
| Affiliation: | Counter Terrorist Unit Central Intelligence Agency United States Army |
| Profession: | District Manager and Administrative Director, CTU LA Deputy Director of Psychological Operations, CIA Chief Adviser, Council for the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons Instructor, John F. Kennedy School of Special Warfare Youth Counselor, Los Angeles County Department of Juvenile Justice Assistant to the Director, U.S. Army SPARTAN Program |
| Marital status: | Married |
| Spouse(s): | Madeline Walsh |
| Children: | Veronica Walsh Victoria Walsh |
| Status: | Deceased |
| Cause of death: | Shot by Ira Gaines' sniper |
| Played by: | Michael O'Neill |
| Season: | 1 |
| First episode: | 12.00 AM - 1.00 AM |
| Last episode: | 1.00 AM - 2.00 AM |
| Appears in: | 24 |
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Richard Walsh was a District Manager and the Administrative Director of CTU Los Angeles prior to and during Day 1. He informed CTU Los Angeles of the assassination threat against Senator David Palmer, but was killed with his knowledge about it.
Biography[]
Early life and Career[]
Richard Walsh was born forty-nine years before Day 1. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, followed by two master's degrees: Psychology from Brown University and Criminology and Law from Stanford University.
At some point, Walsh became an officer in the United States Army, serving in both the Rangers and the Special Forces, and he also worked as an Assistant to the Director for the Special Forces' SPARTAN Program.
Following his military service, Walsh was an instructor at the John F. Kennedy School of Special Warfare and a chief adviser to the Council for the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons. He eventually joined the Central Intelligence Agency as its Deputy Director of Psychological Operations.
Walsh and his wife Madeline had two daughters together, Victoria and Veronica. He was active in the community, working as a youth counselor for the Los Angeles County Department of Juvenile Justice and mentoring gifted inner-city kids. Walsh first met Jamey Farrell in one of these counseling sessions, and helped her enter college at age sixteen.
Counter Terrorist Unit[]
Walsh joined CTU sixteen years before Day 1. In its critical early years, Walsh oversaw many of their anti-terrorist missions: Operation Farmhouse (1997), the Hotel Los Angeles attack (1998), Operation Jump Rope (1999), Operation Proteus (2000; special commendation), Operation Toreador (2000), and Operation Pinstripe (2001) being just a few. By the time of his death, he had risen to the position of District Manager and Administrative Director for Los Angeles.
On one occasion, he saved the life of fellow CTU agent Jack Bauer, who would eventually become his protege and closest friend. Walsh also oversaw one of Bauer's earlier operations where he struggled to get Jack the support he needed following a shootout at a CIA safe house. Earlier that same day, he had introduced Bauer to one of his future co-workers, Nina Myers.
Shortly before Day 1, Walsh suspected the presence of a mole inside CTU Los Angeles and issued an order to collect all staff members' access key cards for replacement. He passed these to Scott Baylor, asking him to check the CTU personnel's patterns of entry outside of work schedules, and into secure areas. However, Baylor discovered an altogether different finding on one of the cards.
Day 1[]
At a party, Walsh received a call from a CTU contact, reporting that Victor Rovner had uncovered intelligence on an assassination threat against Senator David Palmer. Walsh called for a meeting at CTU Los Angeles to brief the agency on the threat. Afterward, he pulled Jack Bauer aside to tell him of a suspected mole within the agency aiding the assassination. Jack wasn't comfortable being the only one to know this since he had previously "blown the whistle" on other fellow CTU agents so he felt he should be the last one looking for dirty agents. Despite this, Walsh told him that he was the only person who could be trusted with the task. Jack agreed to look into it and Walsh warned Jack to trust no one, not even his own people.
Walsh later met with Scott Baylor at 2350 Dunlop Plaza, where he was given a key card and told he found it to be filled with references to David Palmer. Someone had been using the card to smuggle information in and out of restricted areas without scrutiny. Baylor was afraid for his life, having put his wife and child on a plane as soon as he stumbled upon the conspiracy. Walsh was able to convince him to stay and help for another twenty-four hours, yet as soon as he agreed, Baylor immediately was shot and killed by an unseen assassin. Walsh was shot in the arm, but managed to hide and call Jack for back-up, telling him to meet him on the roof.
Jack arrived on the roof about fifteen minutes later and the two headed into the stairwell. Jack bandaged Walsh's wound, then the two of them found and killed the two shooters in the building. Jack cut off one of the men's thumbs to later use as identification, then they both headed out of the building. Outside, Walsh was shot twice in the back by a sniper and lay dying on the pavement. Using his remaining energy, Walsh threw the key card to Jack, telling him to have Jamey Farrell match it to a computer and reveal the mole. Having exposed himself, Walsh was shot again, fatally. Jack, a close friend of Walsh, mourned his death before using the key-card provided by Walsh to identify the mole within CTU.
Gallery[]
Background information and notes[]
- Walsh's name in the original draft of the script was "Barnes."
- Richard Walsh was the first recurring character to die on the show.
- In the 2013 Indian version of 24, Richard Walsh's counterpart is Wassim Khan.