Jack Bristow, a longtime agent of the CIA and double officer with SD-6, is often emotionally distant and can be a cold and brutal character. However, his character's defining trait is his devotion to the safety of his daughter, Sydney Bristow. He is highly protective of her and is willing to do anything -- torture, kill, even betray his country -- to ensure her well-being. His relationship with his daughter has always been problematic, although it warms and matures as years go by.Jack fathered Sydney with Irina Derevko, a long-term KGB spy who married Jack to get close to the CIA, specifically to steal the details of Project Christmas, which Jack was developing for the agency. She took the name Laura Bristow and built a cover as an English literature professor. Once the FBI started to investigate against Irina, she faked her death in a staged car accident. Jack, suspected of being complicit in Irina's espionage, was detained and placed in solitary confinement. He named Arvin and Emily Sloane as Sydney's temporary guardians. Jack and Arvin became friends after they got to know each other in the early '70s, when both started their careers at the CIA. When Jack was finally cleared, he began drinking heavily and became more of an absentee father, leaving Sydney to be raised by nannies. Jack was later recruited into SD-6 by Sloane when the Alliance of Twelve was founded, and was one of the few agents who knew the truth behind the cell. He was also Director of Operations at SD-6, and many in the Alliance believed he was a logical choice to take Sloane's place.When Sydney was in college, Arvin Sloane had her recruited into SD-6 without Jack's knowledge. Jack reacted negatively to Sydney's telling him that she had gotten a job at Credit Dauphine, the front company for SD-6. However, Jack's reaction made Sydney more determined to be a part of what she thought was the CIA. Jack later revealed to Sydney that he had recognized her potential, but wanted to keep her away from this life, away from making the choices that he had to and eventually she had to as an agent. Sydney's recruitment into SD-6 also caused Jack's Friendship with Sloane to end, although, because of the clandestine character of Jack's work as a double-agent at SD-6, he couldn't reveal that to Sloane until years after. Show less «