Authorized Personnel Only

This article is part of the U.S. government series

Central Intelligence Agency Authorized Personnel Only Federal Bureau of Investigation National Security Council National Security Agency Department of Special Research

Authorized Personnel Only was a deep cover, black-operations division of the Central Intelligence Agency which undertook highly secretive covert missions. The headquarters of APO was underneath the Los Angeles subway system. APO's director was Arvin Sloane, who ironically had previously led a fake black-ops division of the CIA.

The name of the organization refers to the sign on the entrance door from the LA subway.

Structure

The APO hallway

To enter APO, an employee had to travel on the Los Angeles subway to the North Hollywood station. At that station, one had to go towards a door marked "NO ENTRY: Authorized Personnel Only" (the reason for the name of the division). Using a keycard provided the employee could enter the door, at which point they would have to push up two levers as well as activating several buttons which would open the door to the main APO entrance hallway. The door shut automatically after the employee entered.

At the end of the hallway was a reception desk. The main bullpen of APO was to the left from here, where employees worked at computer stations or conversed around tables. The design was bright white on all walls, floors and ceiling. There were minimal doors, with even Arvin Sloane's office not being sectioned off from the rest of the bullpen. The only exception to the bright design was the dark entranceway (Authorized Personnel Only, Part 1).

Recruitment

Employees (formally operatives for the CIA) had to leave their former job by means of resigning or being fired so as to convince coworkers who stayed with the CIA that they no longer worked for the government. Sydney Bristow was supposed moved to the Langley mailroom, whereas Michael Vaughn chose to quit after the events of the previous year and Marshall Flinkman was "arrested" for improper use of government property - connecting a PlayStation2 to office monitors. It is unknown what Jack Bristow, Marcus Dixon or Arvin Sloane's covers were (Authorized Personnel Only, Part 1).

History

Sloane's office at APO

The Central Intelligence Agency's Pacific Rim surveillance worked out of the APO office until 1998. After it closed the office was unused until the APO division was approved two months before Sydney Bristow first entered. They felt that the increased amount of "red tape" surrounding recent investigations prohibited them from effectively doing their job, and so therefore decided to ask Arvin Sloane to set up a covert unit that was liable to US laws but not hampered by bureaucratic chain of command (They also chose Sloane as he gave the US government a valuable Rambaldi artefact). Sloane summerized to his team that the CIA practically wanted their own SD-6; a division that "doesn't exist" with team members who have no recordable affiliation to the US government. He said that the government did not want to know how they got things done, just that they did.

Sydney followed the instructions given to her by Director Chase, who met her there when she arrived. Chase showed her the office and explained that her, Vaughn, Jack and Dixon had been hand-picked to help run the team at APO by Arvin Sloane, the director. Sydney was shocked that Sloane, who ran "what amounts to a terrorist organization" was allowed to manage APO, but Chase told her that they could use his contacts to good effect and he would be closely watched (Authorized Personnel Only, Part 1).

Missions

Season 4

Episode	Mission
Authorized Personnel Only (Part 1)	Mission 1: Find Yuri Komarov
	Russia's leading nuclear scientist went missing and APO's first task was to find him and a vial of a deadly, unstable isotope called Aurine-12 which he had in his possession and was planning to sell on a train travelling between Belarus and Latvia the following Thursday. APO planned to intercept the isotope and give the buyer, Kazu Tamazaki, a fake isotope that could be tracked by Langley. Sydney managed to get the isotope while Vaughn gave the buyer the tracker. However, Tamazaki did not think Vaughn to be Komarov and so tried to have him killed. Vaughn managed to overpower his attacker and save Sydney before she was killed by her attacker.
Authorized Personnel Only (Part 2)	Mission 2: Find Kazu Tamazaki then eliminate his boss, Roman Vadik
	To attract Tamazaki's attention, APO stole the Shintaro sword from Hazunaga Asian Museum in London (with the help of Marshall Flinkman who joined the team). As they waited for Tamazaki to get word of the stolen sword, Jack Bristow interrogated one of Tamazaki's men from the attack on the train who informed him that Tamazaki was Vadik; the second name was a cover. Tamazaki agreed to a meet, in Rio de Janerio. Upon arriving Tamazaki instructed Sydney to go to the tenth floor of the Alves building, alone. She soon realized it was a trap and Tamazaki kidnapped her and the sword. Nadia managed to save her after having been informed of the situation by Vaughn and using her knowledge of Tamazaki. Tamazaki knocked Nadia out and ran as Vaughn and Jack arrived. Sydney pursued him and managed to kill him with the Samurai sword he had tried to use against her.
The Awful Truth	Mission 3: Discover who stole the Valta computer
	The Valta computer, holding cutting edge technology, had been stolen by someone and was going to be delieved to a German terrorist organization named the Baden-Liga, but APO did not know who from. The data was stored in the bank in the Bahamas where money was deposited in payment for the Valta, but the data was protected. Sydney and Marshall went to the bank posing as people who wanted their funds stored. They received a meeting with manager so as to be close to the safe. At the same time, Vaughn and Dixon began a fight at a different place in the bank. The manager was called to deal with the situation, and whilst he was out of the room Sydney used the manager's fingerprint she obtained when shaking his hand to access the identity of the person who stole the Valta computer; Martin Bishop.
The Awful Truth	Mission 4: Recover the Valta computer
	After discovering the identity of Martin Bishop, APO concluded that he was storing the location of the Valta on a highly-defended server inside his mansion, just outside of Malaga. Realizing that it could not be hacked from the outside, Sydney realized they would have to be invited in to get at the server. An elaborate plan was designed involving Sydney supposedly being in a car crash which Bishop helps her out of, then invites her back to his house to clean up afterwards. She managed to hack his server and found the Valta to be at Alameda Yards, container number Charlie-0717. A CIA team was sent and it destroyed the Valta but was captured by Bishop's men. Sydney, who Bishop realized to be CIA, was kidnapped but she and Weiss escaped and killed Bishop.
Ice	Mission 5: Recover Ice 5
	Sydney met with Derek Modell who had a sample of Ice 5 (a dangerous biological weapon), but had swallowed it as precaution. He was followed to the meet and despite APO's efforts to save him he was shot and shattered into a thousand pieces as a result of the biological agent which freeze-dried his body until it crystallized. APO discovered that Ice 5 was being developed at Modell's former place of employment; the Hospital Sava in Montenegro by Fenton Keene. Sydney went posing as a British Omnifam worker and with the help of Vaughn (posing as Father Michael Leconte) they managed to take down Keene and acquire the Ice 5 with the aid of Keene's sister, Meghan.
Welcome To Liberty Village	Mission 6: Infiltrate the October Contingent
	An electromagnetic weapon was stolen from a warehouse in Kostroma by Yuri Korelka for the October Contingent. Sloane sent Sydney and Vaughn in, posing as Contingent operatives, to find out what their agenda was and to retrieve the electromagnetic weapon. They went in as Dmitri and Ileona Tabakov, and once satisfied Korelka gave them the aliases David and Karen Parker and took them to Liberty Village, an American style neighbourhood build in the backwater of Russia to train recruits to become spies. Eventually they discovered the Contingent's plans; to ensure a collapse of a portion of the stock market (using the EMP) which would ensure a "redistribution of wealth" in their favour, and would result in some civilian deaths. Korelka discovered that Sydney and Vaughn were not the real Tabakovs, but Sydney discovered this and killed him before he could her. To stop their attacks who were approaching in a chopper, Sydney set off the EMP which killed all power in a ten mile radius.
Nocturne	Mission 7: Locate Jason Cahill
Detente	Mission 8: Locate the vial of Black Thorine through Boris Tambor
Detente	Mission 9: Prevent the Black Thorine sale
Echoes	Mission 10: Survey Anna Espinos's activities in Brussels and arrest her if the opportunity arises
	APO was tasked by Jack Bristow with surveilling a meeting that Anna Espinosa had in Brussels with a contact. He took operational command as Espinosa was a person that Arvin Sloane was to have no interaction with, as per the terms of his treaty as head of the organization. Sydney was allowed to bring Espinosa in if the opportunity arose, using whatever force necessary. However, the surveillance mission could never occur because Espinosa kidnapped Nadia and forced Sydney to jump through several hoops to get her back (see the following mission).
Echoes	Mission 11: Recover Nadia Santos from Anna Espinosa
	Anna forced Sydney to attend the meeting in Brussels, posing as Ana. She had to fake the death of Willem Karg and get his finger as proof of her skill before the contact would give her a package, that Anna was willing to swap in return for Nadia. The mission was successful and Sydney managed to exchange the package for Nadia, who Anna had tied in a car and locked in a trunk. However, during her captivity Anna had branded Nadia with the Eye of Rambaldi on her neck so whenever Sydney look at her she would think of Anna. Nadia had the mark covered with skin grafted from her back. Sydney and Nadia then went after Anna, but they were unable to capture her and Nadia was shot.
Echoes / A Man Of His Word	Mission 11: Infiltrate the CRF and prevent their development of a chemical bomb
	Using Julian Sark who APO had in custody, the organization planned the infiltrate the terrorist group CRF who Anna Espinosa was working for. They planned to use the Dante compound to engineer a chemical bomb. He agreed to help them, but first forced APO to show him the body of his former lover, Lauren Reed, and insisted that Michael Vaughn be the one to take him there. After he had seen her, Sark told them about Ushek San'ko who planned to buy the bomb from Anna, and that he had a working relationship with San'ko. They met with him and asked for information on the bomb, but before he could divulge Anna shot and killed San'ko and helped Sark to escape, asking him for assistance in selling the bomb herself in exchange for the escape. APO discovered this and intercepted the bomb, and finally managed to take Anna into custody.
The Index	Mission 13: Recover the Blackwell Index
The Road Home	Mission 14: Retrieve the Biometric Targeting Device in Salzburg, Austria as well as locating the creator, Sasha Korjev
The Orphan	Mission 15: Steal the Amplifying Glass
Tuesday	Mission 16: Discover the target of Third Faction's bomb and prevent it from going off, despite APO being in lockdown
Nightingale	Mission 17: Recover the transformer coil from Project Nightingale
Pandora	Mission 18: Find the rogue Michael Vaughn
Another Mister Sloane / In Dreams...	Mission 19: Find out who is impersonating Arvin Sloane
A Clean Conscience / Mirage	Mission 20: Locate the Hydrosek
Mirage	Mission 21: Locate Jack Bristow and help treat his radiation sickness
	When Jack Bristow failed to report in for duty, members of the APO team became suspicious. Sydney and Vaughn went to Jack's apartment, where they found many bottles of medication and used syringes. Sydney reported back to APO, and Marshall Flinkman reluctantly told her what happened during the Project Nightingale mission. Weiss found Jack on a traffic camera and Marshall traced the car to a building on Pierpont. Sydney and Vaughn went to the location and found Jack, delusional, injecting himself with a poison. The only known doctor who could help treat Jack was in a deep witness protection programme with no written records. The only person who knew where he was was Jack, who could not think straight. To help, the APO team reconstructed Jack's life in 1981, convincing him that Syndey was in fact his wife "Laura", and he confessed the location to her. They found the doctor, Atticus Liddell, who helped to treat him.
Search And Rescue	Mission 22: Locate Elena and Irina Derevko
	After locating Lucian Nisard, APO learnt that Irina Derevko was alive and she had been duplicated using technology from the Helix Project.
Search And Rescue / Before The Flood	Mission 23: Stop Elena Derevko from enacting Rambaldi's "endgame"

Staff

• Arvin Sloane, director (Season 4)
• Jack Bristow, director (Season 5) (Raptor)
• Sydney Bristow, field agent (Phoenix)
• Michael Vaughn, field agent (Shotgun)
• Eric Weiss, field agent {Houdini
• Marcus Dixon, field agent (Outrigger)
• Nadia Santos, field agent (Evergreen)
• Thomas Grace, field agent (Sidewinder)
• Rachel Gibson, field agent (Oracle)
• Marshall Flinkman, technical support (Merlin)