While many real-life agents are quick to compliment the portrayal of their agency on "NCIS," they also admit that many of the biggest plot points are completely fictional.
Perhaps the biggest inaccuracy on "NCIS" is the existence of two main characters, Donald "Ducky" Mallard and Abby Sciuto. As MaryAnn Cummings, NCIS communications director and retired Army colonel, told the United Service Organizations (USO), the real NCIS does not have their own medical examiners (sorry, Ducky fans!). And, while Abby's position of forensic scientist did exist within the NCIS when the show premiered in 2003, that role has since been handed over to the Army's lab.
Additionally, on the show, the agents are often struggling over jurisdictional issues, which, of course, does make things a bit more interesting. However, according to Ed Buice, an NCIS public affairs officer, the NCIS rarely encounters issues regarding jurisdiction while working cases. As he told the USO, the meat of the job, which consists of maintaining good relationships with other agencies and spending hours doing paperwork every day, doesn't exactly make for entertaining television.
And, finally, as you might have already guessed, the ability to instantly tap into CIA databases (or any other database, for that matter) takes much longer than it does on the show, as Lou Eliopulos, NCIS division chief of forensic sciences, told Smithsonian Magazine.
Despite these inaccuracies, it seems that real-life NCIS agents enjoy watching the beloved crime show just as much as the rest of us.
