Tom Lennox

Thomas "Tom" Lennox was President Wayne Palmer's Chief of Staff during the events of Day 6.

Education

 * PhD, Government - Harvard University
 * Bachelor of Arts, Political Science - Yale University (graduated magna cum laude in three years)

Experience

 * White House Chief of Staff
 * Special Advisor to the President
 * Palmer-Daniels presidential campaign - Policy Director
 * Commerce Department - Chief of Staff and Counselor to the Secretary of Commerce
 * White House - Special Assistant to the President/Domestic Policy Council
 * Palmer-Prescott presidential campaign - Policy Advisor
 * Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government - Visiting Professor in political philosophy
 * Commerce Department - Chief of Economic Development Administration
 * University of Pennsylvania - Visiting Professor in American politics

Other

 * Former Member, President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board
 * Serves on the boards of the Georgetown Institute, the James P. Williams Center for Public Affairs, and the Catalyn Foundation
 * Has published numerous articles and essays on topics including constitutional law, political philosophy, and public policy, and has co-edited several books

Before Day 6
Before becoming Wayne Palmer's Chief of Staff, Tom worked as the Policy Director for both Wayne Palmer's and David Palmer's presidential campaigns. Despite their history, he and David Palmer were never close friends and often disagreed on several issues.

It was Lennox who encouraged a reluctant Wayne to seek the Presidency after Charles Logan was arrested for murder and treason.

During the terrorist attacks over a three week prior to the beginning of Day 6, Tom had proposed to President Palmer that detention centers be built to hold American Muslims, in an attempt to stop the terrorist attacks. Up until Day 6, President Palmer had decided not to implement Tom's detention center plan.

Day 6


Prior to the start of Day 6, Wayne Palmer was elected to president and Tom Lennox earned the position as his Chief of Staff. America was suffering from a series of terrorist attacks and the only way to stop them was to give Abu Fayed $25 million and Jack Bauer, as he agreed to give up leader Hamri Al-Assad in exchange.

When Karen Hayes learned that Lennox was willing to create detention centers to detain Islamic-Americans, she became furious and opposed Lennox's actions. When Jack Bauer escaped from Fayed's control and told President Palmer that Assad was innocent and that Fayed was really behind the attacks, both Karen and Lennox opposed President Palmer calling off the strike against Assad.

When the FBI tried to gain control of personnel files at the Islamic-American Alliance, Sandra Palmer called her brother to discuss the issue. She was convinced that Tom was behind it, and told Wayne that she, nor their brother President David Palmer, ever liked Tom.

When Fayed called President Palmer and demanded the release of prisoners, it was apparent that Jack was right all along, and it was later revealed that Jack helped Assad escape before the strike occurred. President Palmer, Karen, and Tom were all horrified when they witnessed a suitcase nuke go off in Valencia.

When Lennox authorized detention centers without the consent of the president, Karen became furious and confronted him about it. Lennox felt that Karen was a threat to him, and he asked Reed Pollock to help him dispose of her. Pollock got back to Lennox and gave him a list of names. The people on the list were willing to testify against Karen's husband Bill Buchanan, who signed off on Fayed's release 18 months earlier. Karen was given no other choice but to resign in order to protect her husband.

Following Karen's resignation, Tom presented his revised plan to deny civil liberties to President Palmer. Wayne was about to give in an called a meeting with his cabinet. However, upon receiving a call from Sandra, Wayne decided against the plan and stated he would not endorse the actions that were stated on Lennox's plan. It also became clear that Lennox was working with Vice President Noah Daniels in deceiving President Palmer.

Feeling ashamed by Palmer not considering any of his proposals, Lennox informed Reed that he planned on resigning and wanted a letter of resignation immediately. Unbeknown to Lennox, Pollock needed access to the White House, as associates of his planned on taking immediate action to make Vice President Daniels the country's leader. When Pollock confronted Lennox with his plan, Lennox eventually decided to not resign.

When Reed told Tom that he would have to give clearance to the assassin Reed's conspirators were sending in, Tom was convinced it would come straight to him. Reed assured Tom wouldn't even be investigated, as Assad would serve as their cover. Tom was later forced to leave the room when the president asked to speak to him. President Palmer had Tom give his opinion on Assad's speech, and Palmer told Tom he made very valid points.

Tom confronted Reed and told him he was working on getting clearance. However, Tom had second thoughts and called Agent Hollister, needing to speak with him. Realizing Tom was planning to double-cross him, Reed knocked Tom out with a flashlight and tied him up. Reed called to have Tom's meeting with Hollister canceled, and held Tom in the boiler room of the bunker.

Pollock arrived at the boiler room with Carson, who suggested for them to kill Lennox. He wanted to make it look like a suicide, but Pollock insisted on holding off on killing Lennox. When Pollock learned that Lennox played him the entire time, he became furious. Lennox later made an attempt to escape, but Carson stopped him and warned him that he would be killed if he tried that again. When Carson armed the bomb, Lennox looked in horror, knowing the president would be assassinated in any given time.

Lennox later learned that President Palmer survived the explosion, but it was too early to make a proper prognosis. Assad was killed in the blast and Carson was convinced it was time to kill Lennox. Pollock insisted killing Lennox would make them murderers, and they could reason with Lennox. Pollock told Lennox that it would be best to make the best decision, as getting rid of President Palmer was in the best interest for the country. They realized Lennox, but Lennox informed Agent Lowry about Pollock and Carson's role in Palmer's assassination attempt. He then set up a meeting with the Attorney General.



When Lennox was giving his statement, Vice President Daniels arrived in the room and requested to speak alone with Tom. Daniels told Lennox that he would be charged if he didn't allow to have Assad become the scapegoat. Daniels insisted blaming Assad for the incident was in the best interest of the country, as it would make the national security plan easier for the people to accept. Daniels also instructed Tom that he needed to stay on board with his original national security plan, as people would become suspicious if Tom was suddenly against it.

Tom accepted Daniels' terms, omitting any mention of Assad's innocence in the assassination attempt from his official statement, but confronted Daniels thereafter, insisting that the truth must come out eventually, once the current crisis was over, and that Reed and Carson must be charged and punished. Daniels agreed, but then shocked Tom by requesting Tom lie to the Middle Eastern Ambassador about witnessing Assad actually planting the bomb. Daniels hoped to falsify additional justification for his intimidation tactics against the Ambassador. Although incredibly reluctant to lie so blatantly to the representative of another nation, Tom ultimately did so.



Daniels called a meeting with the Cabinet and revealed his plan to retaliate against Fayed and Assad's country if another nuclear bomb went off. Daniels had Admiral John Smith find a place to set off a warning shot, where there would be minimum casualties. Karen strongly opposed at this idea, as she was convinced Russia and China would get involved, creating a third World War. Karen later confronted Tom about Daniels plan, and he told her she better pray CTU is able to stop the nuclear drone from hitting its target.

CTU discovered that the target was San Francisco and they managed to stop the drone from hitting its target. The drone crash landed in an industrial park, but radioactive poison was released. However, the casualty estimate was minimum and both Karen and Tom were convinced Daniels would go through with the military action. When Daniels announced he planned on having the missile launched, both Tom and Karen opposed the idea.

Memorable quotes

 * Karen Hayes: Did someone push you down the stairs, Tom?
 * Tom Lennox: No, Karen, I tripped over your ineptitude.