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Director Thomas Morrow
Played By: Alan Dale
- Boom, Headshot!: Took a bullet to the back of the cranium and was later found dead in his study.
- The Bus Came Back: Shows up in "Chasing Ghosts" to tell Vance what Ziva has been up to, as well as trying to keep them from hunting down Ilan Bodnar.
- Bus Crash: Is killed in Season 13 by a vengeful ex-MI6 agent, although it's actually recurring character CIA agent Kort covering his tracks.
- Back for the Dead: In season 13's "Return to Sender".
- Da Chief: The original one.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Is very understanding and tolerating of Gibbs' Cowboy Cop tendencies.
- Put on a Bus: In the first episode of season three, after accepting an offer to become Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security.
Special Agent Chris Pacci
Played By: Tim Kelleher
- He Knows Too Much: Got shot to death because he learned something important about a cold case.
- Mauve Shirt: Shows up in two episodes before being killed.
- Posthumous Character: Still pops up in a flashback or two, and his cases still get mentioned.
- Sacrificial Lamb: He's the first NCIS Agent character to be killed off, demonstrating that working for the titular agency won't give you Plot Armor.
Special Agent Michelle Lee
Played By: Liza Lapira
Tony: She's even more probie than Probie!
- Action Girl: She's not in the field often to show it, but in "Once A Hero" she goes undercover and defeats The Dragon of the Villain of the Week.
- I Have Your Daughter: Not her, but the people that were making her be a Double Agent.
- The Mole: Framed Langer for her crimes and kills him.
- Nerds Are Sexy: She definitely felt this way about Jimmy Palmer during their fling.
- Redemption Equals Death: She became the Human Shield in a standoff for the culprit that kidnapped her daughter and made her the mole. Once she knew her daughter was safe, she gave Gibbs a non-verbal signal to shoot her and by proxy, shooting him as well, killing them both.
- Sympathetic Murderer: Despite killing and framing Langer, it's possible to feel bad about the situation she was put in. Even Ziva and McGee (to an extent) agreed that they may have done the same thing.
- Two First Names: Lee can pass as a given name.
Mike Franks
Played By: Muse Watson
"Don't tempt me, Jethro! I ain't nearly drunk enough."
- Anti-Hero: His retired status makes him both willing and able to go into moral grey areas that are too dark for the regular team.
- Cynical Mentor: Seems to have been this to Gibbs.
- Dead All Along: In his last appearance, Gibbs seems to be talking to Mike in person as they gaze upon a body bag. But Mike ominously appears to be fulfilling the role of a Greek Chorus and inexplicably appearing and disappearing, if Gibbs's absolutely devastated state of mind didn't give it away. Then, a not-so-subtle comment about forming "ghosts" of people inside one's mind is brought up... and we soon learn this is exactly what Gibbs has done for Mike. As soon as it's revealed Mike is the one who died in the first place, the ghost avatar of Mike vanishes permanently and Gibbs finally unzips his body bag to look upon the pallid and withered shell his mentor left behind.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: He died in Gibbs' arms, too fast to say any final comments. Gibbs worked his subsequent grief out by envisioning a conversation with his dead mentor.
- Do Not Go Gentle: He knew he was on his way to the grave, yet he willingly sought out the Port-to-Port killer and had a violent struggle with him, managing to shoot him at least once before finally being overpowered and finished off.
- Dope Slap: The originator In-Universe. He first slapped a Probie Gibbs, who would later inflict the same actions on his team members.
- Dying Moment of Awesome: He was dying of some illness but he still had enough fight to take on Jason Cobb and actually wound the serial killer.
- Grumpy Old Man: Imagine an older, grumpier Gibbs.
- Fingore: His gun hand gets mutilated, resulting in the loss of ths thumb and index finger. It only makes him slightly less deadly.
- Foreshadowing: This exchange at the beginning of "Swan Song":Ghost!Mike: Better fill me in, Probie... I'm lost.Gibbs: (brokenly) ......So am I.
- Heroic BSoD: The Khobar Towers bombing in '96, as well as the lukewarm response to it, prompted him to retire.
- Iconic Sequel Character: Does not appear in the show until the Season 3 finale, and physically in the Season 4 premiere.
- Incurable Cough of Death: One of the hints of him having some kind of illness. It would probably have killed him even if Jason Cobb wouldn't have, since Gibbs was already in the process of making a coffin for Mike.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's gruff and can be a bit of an ass, but he'll always help those close to him (Gibbs, Leyla and Amira, etc.).
- Knight in Sour Armor: While he has a cynical viewpoint of life, he does fight for the side of good and always tries to do the right thing.
- Last Episode, New Character: Appears in flashbacks in "Hiatus, Part 1", makes proper debut appearance in Part 2.
- Papa Wolf: Towards his granddaughter Amira and daughter-in-law Leyla.
- Posthumous Character: He appears in flashbacks and in Gibbs's dreams in just about every season after his death.
- Retired Badass: Even after he said good-bye to his old post, he always kept eight bullets in his cartridge, and one in his piece, just to be prepared so that he would never be caught by surprise. Unfortunately, Jacob stole his weapon shortly after inflicting fatal wounds to Mike.
- The Reveal: We see Gibbs dutifully at work on some elaborate woodcarving project all throughout Season 8, and it appears to be the machinations of an innocent hobby. At the end of Season 8, Gibbs is one of the pallbearers for Mike's body, and special emphasis is given to his custom-built casket, as it happens to be the finished project of all the handcrafting Gibbs did that season as a last request of his old mentor and longtime friend.
- Secretly Dying: Mike was already dying from what is heavily implied to be lung cancer, from a life of heavy smoking and alcohol consumption to cope with his hardships. Gibbs knew because Mike wanted him to build the coffin. Franks chose to go down fighting when Jason Cobb confronted him and was fatally stabbed during the fight.
- Semper Fi: He was a Marine in 'Nam.
- Underground Railroad: S11E4 revealed he helped smuggle in abused women from Kabul over the years, and give them fake identities taken from deceased servicewomen. It fell apart after his death. He asked Gibbs to help him but Gibbs refused.
Gerald Jackson
Played By: Pancho Demmings
One of the initial characters, he was Ducky's first Assistant Medical Examiner on the show before Jimmy Palmer took over that role in Season 3.
- Black Dude Dies First: Subverted. He lived, but it's he who is shot by Ari (as opposed to the Caucasian Ducky or Kate) and he disappears from the show afterwards.
- Career-Ending Injury: At the very least it ended his job in NCIS. It's unknown what, if any, work he returned.
- Flat Character: A lot like Vivian Blackadder, Gerald's character was dropped because he was fairly well-adjusted to the job he had when he was initially introduced. Characterization wasn't going much of anywhere because there was little for him to really do, and he was replaced with the younger Jimmy Palmer to create a more meaningful series of interactions with Ducky and an apprenticeship narrative to explore, much to the betterment of the series.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: Inverted. Ducky offers himself to be shot instead of Gerald when Ari takes Autopsy hostage. Ari instead ignores Ducky and shoots Gerald when Ducky and Kate tried to trick him.
- Put on a Bus: After his first encounter with Ari led him to leave Autopsy with a gun shot to the shoulder and being kidnapped and released by Ari at the start of season 3, he hasn't been seen since. Given that Kate was just murdered and the injuries he also incurred and being taken hostage a second time just when he thought he was in the clear to resume his duties, he had much incentive not to come back.
Special Agent Paula Cassidy
Played By: Jessica Steen
An NCIS Special Agent who worked at the Pentagon and Guantanamo Bay as an interrogator. She made reoccurring performances over the first four seasons.
- Action Girl: Particularly in "Mind Games". First Played for Laughs when Tony swipes something from her and she takes it back the hard way. Then played deadly serious when she manages to kill a serial killer while her hands are tied behind her back.
- Badass in Distress: Magnificently subverted in "Mind Games." First we see her knocked out and captured by the bad guy. Next we see the team racing to save her. Then we see that they chose the wrong suspect to chase, and she's alone in a barn with the bad guy, still dazed from the blow to the head, unarmed, with her hands tied behind her back, and up against a serial killer who intends to make her his next victim. In the episode's closing shot, we see her with the rest of the team telling the episode's Big Bad that his pal is dead and he's headed back to Death Row.
- Deadpan Snarker: She gets in a few good shots in the two episodes where she's a major character (S3's "Mind Games" and S4's "Grace Period"). Most of them are at Tony's expense, but not all.Cassidy: A whole week of T A D note with Gibbs. I can smell the fun already.
- Death Equals Redemption: She spends all of "Grace Period" blaming herself for the death of her team and vowing to get the man responsible. When she tackles the suicide bomber, she achieves this.
- Heroic Sacrifice: In a split second decision, she saw a suicide bomber come out from behind a hidden passage way. Without hesitation, she jumped onto the man, keeping him in the passage as the door closed. She saved the rest of Team Gibbs and the clerics they were protecting.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: We never see just how she defeated her would-be killer in "Mind Games", but it must have been awesome since she did it unarmed and with her hands tied behind her back.
- Together in Death: The episode of her death, her team was killed in an ambush while following up on a tip from the NCIS hotline. The aforementioned suicide bomber was one of the men responsible; the last thing she saw was hallucinations of her team, both standing and waiting for her.
Nikki Jardine
Played By: Susan Kelechi Watson
- The Atoner: To the Iraqi family who's father got shot trying to help her brother.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: She's Terrified of Germs to the point of wearing a face mask around the office in one episode, but she's also a highly-competent analyst.
- Help Mistaken for Attack: Part of her Backstory, her brother was injured in Iraq and when a friendly Iraqi tried to help him, he was killed by US forces.
- Neat Freak: Played with. Nikki is a Germaphobe and always using wipes to clean her hands and things she touches, but (as revealed in the episode In The Zone) is a slob when it comes to leaving stuff lying around.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Vanishes without trace after her A Day in the Limelight episode In The Zone.
Charles "Chip" Sterling
Played By: Michael Bellisario
Abby's first lab assistant, as appointed by the new Director of NCIS Shepard. Only showed up for four episodes in the first half of season 3. His run didn't last very long because he had a sinister motive for taking the job.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Pretends to be a meek and slightly soft-spoken assistant who bumbles a bit and comes off as a dork. However, the moment NCIS starts to figure something's up and Abby uncovers his scheme, Chip immediately drops the act and tries to attack her.
- Bound and Gagged: Chip tried to kill Abby, then learned Abby's experience with masochism is unparalleled when he found himself completely restrained moments later.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Abby calls him Chip, which he didn't like but begrudgingly accepted.
- Four Is Death: The fourth episode he appears in is the one where we learn Chip is a wolf in sheep's clothing.
- Porn Stache: Had one in his first episode, was told by Gibbs in his second to shave if off.
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Real-Life Relative: He is the son of producer of the show Donald Bellisario, and brother of Troian Bellisario (Sara McGee's actor). He is also the step-brother of Sean Murray (Timothy McGee's actor). - Revenge: Tried to frame Tony for when he, as a Baltimore cop, got him fired for mishandling evidence. Nearly got away with it too if it weren't for Abby.
Special Agent Brent Langer
Played By: Jonathan LaPaglia
- Clear My Name: After he had been killed.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: He and the mole are in a sensitive area. As he explains some things to the mole, he realizes he is with the mole. He tries to draw his gun but it doesn't help.
- Red Herring Mole: Set up to be the mole by the mole.
- Whack A Mole: Subverted, due to him not actually being the mole and being killed trying to stop the mole.
Stanley Burley
Played By: Joel Gretsch
Was a part of Gibbs' team before DiNozzo was hired away from Baltimore PD. Still an active NCIS agent, now working as Agent Afloat on an aircraft carrier.
- Back for the Dead: Narrowly averted.
- Hero of Another Story: He is a successful NCIS agent seen a handful of times in the series.
- Put on a Bus: The last time he appeared in the show is in season 13. He hasn't appeared again ever since.
- With Gibbs, Ziva and DiNozzo gone and Kate dead, leaving McGee the only current team member to actually know him, as well his total number of appearances being in a single degit, it’s unlikely he’ll return.
Riley McCallister
Played By: Michael O'Neill
- Didn't See That Coming: He thought he had Vance dead to rights by jacking up his morphine to overdose him. He had no idea that Gibbs slipped him a knife shortly beforehand.
- It's All About Me: He wants the Director's seat in NCIS, and he'll attempt to kill Vance and Eli David to seize it.
- Jerkass: After McGee reprimanded him for an inaction, he tells him to shut up.
- McCallister: Permission to smack your boy with my cane, Gibbs!
- Jerkass Has a Point: In "Life Before His Eyes", he presents Gibbs an alternate timeline where he hadn't killed Pedro Hernandez: If Gibbs hadn't chosen the path of revenge, he would've been a recluse, hiding in his basement while everyone who cared about him and worked with him went forward with their lives.
- Revealing Cover Up: By emphasizing The Russian and trying so hard to pin the blame of the bombing that hospitalized Vance on Eli David, McCallister already gets himself in Gibbs' crosshairs. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, the ex-agent got too impatient and tried dealing with Vance personally instead.
- Small Role, Big Impact: McCallister only has a momentary presence in the series, but he's the one that sent Gibbs to Paris with Shepard which formed a major crux of their shared backstory, and accidentally got Vance the reputation to earn the Director's seat after her.
- Smug Snake: He wanted to become director of NCIS, so he tried to kill Vance while he was hospitalized. Vance ends up stabbing him with a knife.
- Why We Are Bummed Communism Fell: In his case, it's because he specialized in dealing with the Soviets, so their collapse made him less relevant (and then even more so when the Middle East became the next battleground).
SECNAV Phillip Davenport
Played By: Jude Ciccolella
- Dark Secret: He's the reason why the Port-to-Port killer was born, when a hellish military training program drove him into a killing spree.
- Must Make Amends: He retires as the Director of SECNAV after it comes to light he's responsible for creating Cobb and Cobb tries to get back at him by killing E.J., his niece.
Erica Jane "E.J." Barrett
Played By: Sarah Jane Morris
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: She doesn't like that Gibbs dismisses her as a fellow team leader. To be fair, she is dismissive of the older Gibbs too.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Averted. She never used her connection to her Uncle the SECNAV to get anything.
- Temporary Love Interest: For Tony.
- Tomboyish Name: Her nickname.
Simon Cade
Played By: Matt Willig
- Beard of Sorrow: After going on the run in Season 9, he developed a full beard from dishevelment.
- Boom, Headshot!: Snuffed by Cole in a dark street corner.
- Clear My Name: He goes into hiding after being framed for stealing microchips from the bodies of Watcher 8 fleet members. Tony ends up pursuing him, leading to Cade getting shot and killed by the true thief, Jonathan Cole, who frames Tony for the murder.
- Genius Bruiser: He has an IQ of 160 and played football at Yale.
- Lured into a Trap: Cade was set up by Cole to come to what appeared to be an arranged meeting with Tony, and sniped.
- Mauve Shirt: He survived the first attempt on his life by Jonas Cobb and was in critical condition afterward. When he got out of the hospital, he left NCIS to recuperate but couldn't land a part-time job to keep food on the table. Then he ended up on the run from an even greater enemy, until lured into a trap and assassinated.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Cade and McGee didn't get along together because they were almost always engaging in spitting matches. When he left the main office, it showed.McGee: Sorry to see you go.Cade: Yeah right.
Gayne Levin
Played By: Alimi Ballard
- Black Dude Dies First: As he, Cade, and Barrett enter an abandoned building to look for Jonas Cobb, he and Cade are shot, but it's he who dies.
- Mauve Shirt
SECNAV Clayton Jarvis
Played By: Matt Craven
- Asshole Victim: Killed in the Season 11 opener.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: He is killed offscreen in the Season 11 opener. A bombing takes place as a result of his involvement with a conspiracy on home soil.
- Jerkass: Espically to Tony.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He starts treating the team a bit better later on.
- Last Episode, New Character: Appears in the season 8 finale.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: What he ultimately turns out to be.
Ned Dorneget
Played By: Matt Jones
A relatively new probationary agent. He's eventually transferred into the cyber division and demonstrates computer skills on par with McGee.
- Butt-Monkey: Once left the dentist's office with a bugged tooth implant. Hilarity did not ensue.
- A Death in the Limelight: Plays a major role as a cyber-specialist in the multi-part episode starting with "Troll", then gets killed in the second part while evacuating a hotel about to be the site of a terrorist bombing.
- Hero of Another Story: He gets mentioned a lot more than seen, and does a lot of gruntwork.
- Straight Gay: He does not come off as gay because he doesn't want that aspect about him being spread around the workplace. He outed himself right away when McGee thought otherwise.
Richard Parsons
Played By: Colin Hanks
- Blackmail: Engaged in lots of it to worm his way into his current lofty position.
- Break the Haughty: Coming within feet of being blown up can do that.
- Condescending Compassion: To Ziva in the tenth season finale. He tells about how much he "sympathizes" with her over the murder of her father right before taunting her about his ultimate goal of bringing down Gibbs, who he acknowledges is the only father figure she has left.
- A Dick in Name: Guess what everyone calls him. Especially Abby.
- Didn't Think This Through: His entire plan is to undermine and shut down Gibbs so Parsons can enjoy a major career boost. What he doesn't realize is that even higher ups in the government, from the Department of Defense up to the Pentagon, would rather keep Gibbs on the field than bother with the Inspector General's bullshit, and virtually everyone takes the side of NCIS in the matter.
- Evil Counterpart: Tony quips that he's like McGee's evil twin. He turns out to be less "evil" and more "too ambitious for his own good".
- Filler Villain: For all the threat he was played up to be, he's quickly overshadowed by a larger threat within the CIA and reduced to this. That was prior to his Heel–Face Turn.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Not too surprisingly, when he does decide to help and not hinder Gibbs, the rest of his team gives him the cold shoulder.
- Heel–Face Turn: After he gets a front row seat for the bomb that killed SecNav Jarvis and seriously injured DHS Secretary Morrow.
- Hypocrite: Proclaims that the D.C. NCIS team's methods are questionable and problematic, especially having found out that McGee had hacked and bugged him. The following episode has everyone realize he bugged NCIS first, and while he may genuinely believe he has a reason to stop those violating the law, he's The Unfettered in achieving those results.
- I Shall Taunt You: One of his ways of getting information from the subjects of his investigation. Notably, he goads Tony by insulting Ziva in his first episode.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: So freaking much. He starts off seeming nice but comically annoying. He quickly shows that he is not to be taken lightly and stays one step ahead of the team.
- Out-Gambitted: Gibbs is conveniently sent on assignment abroad before having to testify, and his team all turn in their resignations to accept responsibility for him. Documents about Mike Franks and the murder of the drug lord that killed Shannon and Kelly are burned and shredded, effectively yanking the rug out from under Parsons' case.
- Sixth Ranger: For Gibbs in the season 11 premiere.
- Villain Has a Point: From an outside perspective, Parsons going after Ziva and Gibbs makes a lot of sense: Ziva killing Bodnar, the head of Mossad, combined with Gibbs going to bat for her effectively painted a plausible internal affairs target on both of their heads, regardless of their personal reasons. Combine that with Ziva having been former Mossad with a shaky history of violence, and Gibbs being a loose cannon that skirts the law frequently get the job done, and he had plenty of evidence and reason to raise hell upon them. It's just that he's also entirely out for himself in pursuing this rather than inherently upholding the law, and he's tapped them to produce blackmail along the way, so it kind of undermines his point.
Kevin Hussein
Played By: Ethan Rains
(Former) Systems Administrator for NCIS, until he made a deal to give a computer virus to a bad guy.
- Anti-Villain: Motivated by the need for money to pay his uncle's medical bills. His conscience wouldn't let him go through with the deal, anyway.
Vivian Blackadder
Played By: Robyn Lively
Tony DiNozzo's first onscreen partner; appeared only in the two-part pilot on JAG. It's generally assumed that she was fired after blowing the operation they were on, as Gibbs didn't like her and she's never been mentioned since. She is also implied to be a newcomer.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Off the show with the implication Gibbs delivered on a warning from earlier and sent her back to the J. Edgar Hoover building for being too revenge-minded after busting her chops.
- Flat Character: One of the reasons she doesn't translate to the NCIS series is because Donald Bellisario thought Vivian was a dull character.
- George Jetson Job Security: The opener of Season 14 reveals that Gibbs has a major habit of immediately and frequently booting newcomers who don't click with him within the span of only a few days in rapid sequence; we can safely assume Vivian falls into this category.
- Ironic Name: The woman whose last name is that of a kind of snake turns out to be no good for Gibbs.
- Revenge Before Reason: Vivian becomes blindly driven by a desire for payback for her brother being killed in the bombing of the USS Cole while she's an NCIS agent under Gibbs, and he warns her that he'll cut her loose if she doesn't rein it in, which leads to a big mistake that causes Gibbs to basically drop her as one of his agents, abruptly and unceremoniously.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: A non-lethal example. Vivian's only seen in the two-part JAG backdoor pilot, and quickly forgotten. Since JAG has been over and done with for a long time now and Vivian has never been seen in the spinoff NCIS proper, people are surprised to know she existed as a precursor to the other female leads.
FBI Deputy Director Wayne Sweeney
Played By: Erik Passoja
Deputy Director of the FBI.
- Jerkass: Definitely the rudest prick. He once sent out an arrest warrant for Gibbs on filmsy charges (which is stealing a government vehicle and kidnapping a fugitive) and he seems to care about getting Gibbs more than solving a Sonova case and when Alden Parker lets Gibbs go, Sweeney fired Parker which led Alden to join NCIS despite declining the offer initially. He still holds a grudge against Parker for letting Gibbs go, even after the squad saved him in the shootout in season 20 premiere.
- Remember the New Guy?: Prior to his first appearance in season 19 episode 4, aside a text message from him that was briefly shown onscreen revealed his name in the previous episode, he's never seen or mentioned before. Although, to be fair, deputy directors come and go over the years in real life.
- Hate Sink: Not really a likeable guy.
ADM John McGee
In Season 10 episode "Squall"
in season 16 episode "Once Upon a Tim" via flashbacks
McGee's father and an admiral. He died of cancer during Season 12.
- Bus Crash: He died by his third appearance.
- Glory Hound
- Hate Sink: There's a good reason why some fans definitely don't like him.
- Jerkass: He's a total dick, even in flashbacks.
- Military Brat: His father was also an admiral.
