Dinozzo comments on the .32 S&W kit gun, saying that it's the same gun carried by Bogie in The Maltese Falcon (1941). Apart from the brief intervals when Sam Spade (Bogie's character) relieves Joel Cairo of his .25ACP Colt 1908 pocket auto in Spade's office and, in Gutman's hotel, relieves Wilmer Cook of his pair of .45ACP Colt 1911 autos, Spade does not carry a gun, much less a revolver.
Abby utters the phrase "Book 'em, Danno". This is a catchphrase of Steve McGarret in Hawaii Five-O (1968). However, it is later revealed that the reboot of the 1968 series, Hawaii Five-0 (2010), is in the same universe as NCIS (2003), due to both series having crossovers with NCIS: Los Angeles (2009). So, Abby is referencing a phrase from a past CBS TV Show, whose reboot exists in her own universe.
An overhead shot flies over the Lincoln Memorial and toward the Washington Monument. Despite this episode being aired in Fall 2008, the World War II Memorial is not shown, which was completed in 2004.
Academy ring is positioned upside down on the finger of body of the murdered Lt. Cmdr.