Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for NCIS Season 22, Episode 5With a police procedural focused on the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) in Virginia, it’s unsurprising that other government agencies are featured in NCIS. In the series premiere, "Yankee White," NCIS, the FBI, and the Secret Service started butting heads as Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon), Tobias Fornell (Joe Spano), and Caitlin Todd (Sasha Alexander) fought over case jurisdiction when a Navy Commander died on Air Force One. Despite their differences, Gibbs offers Todd a job at NCIS by the end of the episode. While it took a while longer for Fornell and Gibbs to learn to cooperate, their rivalry turned into friendship and created a good working relationship between the FBI and NCIS during their tenure.
However, the same can't be said about another federal agency that is constantly a thorn in NCIS’s side. Throughout the series, the Major Crimes Response Team (MCRT) has experienced problem after problem when working with a CIA operative. The CIA is portrayed as using questionable methods to solve cases or using criminal means to cover up mistakes. While the NCIS team has also cut corners in the pursuit of justice, they act with good intentions. Meanwhile, the CIA operates on a shoot-first, ask-questions-later mentality. It's no wonder why NCIS and the CIA rarely get along through the series. With NCIS and the CIA working together once more in NCIS Season 22, can they settle their differences like Alden Parker (Gary Cole) and FBI Deputy Director Wayne Sweeney (Erik Passoja) did in the previous episode? Or does the cycle continue?
The CIA Returns in 'NCIS' Season 22, Episode 5
In NCIS Season 22, Episode 5, the MCRT investigates a retired Navy captain, Thomas Butler (John Getz), with dementia who holds his nurse hostage and strangely speaks a different language. When their investigation triggers the CIA to get involved, CIA Officer Conrad (Tom Schanley) demands NCIS stop their investigation. Despite NCIS Director Leon Vance (Rocky Carroll) demanding that Conrad cooperate with them, Conrad still withholds information from them unless it's convenient to his goals. Conrad reluctantly shares that Butler was a Soviet spy during the 1970s that the CIA supposedly kept an eye on after the Cold War ended. This is just another example of the CIA's controversial decisions that could've ended badly since they allowed a former spy to access the Pentagon. As Conrad notes, "Never know when a guy like that’s gonna come in handy."
As it turns out, the CIA didn't actually know Butler's identity until Timothy McGee's (Sean Murray) search into Butler tipped them off. This isn't the first time in NCIS that the CIA lost track of one of their assets. When Butler steals a file called "Project Laurel," Conrad claims it's a matter of national security that they retrieve the file. Yet, he doesn't share with Vance or Parker what exactly is in it — another indication this CIA agent might not be so trustworthy. At the end of the episode, it’s revealed that Project Laurel contains a list of crimes committed by no one else but CIA Officer Conrad. Luckily, NCIS stops Conrad as they can now add him to the list of corrupt CIA operatives they've dealt with.
The NCIS Team Has a Terrible History With the CIA
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CIA Officer Conrad isn't NCIS's first rodeo with a questionable CIA agent. Trent Kort (David Dayan Fisher) was constantly interfering with NCIS whenever their cases aligned. When NCIS was investigating the arms dealer known as La Grenouille (Armand Assante), Kort blew up Tony DiNozzo's (Michael Weatherly) car while he was undercover to get NCIS off the case. While he had some justification for this act, Kort embraced the main antagonist role in Season 13 by blowing up Ziva David's (Cote de Pablo) home, and seemingly killing her. DiNozzo and the rest of the NCIS team were able to avenge Ziva when Kort attempted to fire his weapon at them. Although Ziva turned out to be alive, Kort had every intention of murdering her in cold blood.
While NCIS Season 22, Episode 4 repaired the rift between NCIS and the FBI, the latest episode shows that the CIA continues to operate in the dark as judge, jury, and executioner. As the saying goes, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." With the NCIS team evolving and changing its roster every so often, the one constant is that every version of the MCRT will deal with a corrupt CIA official.
NCIS Season 22 airs Monday nights on CBS in the U.S., with new episodes available the next day on Paramount+.
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