Thomas Lennox

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24 character
Image:Tom Lennox S6.jpg
Tom Lennox
Gender	Male
Jobs held	Special Advisor to the President/White House Chief of Staff 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
Affiliation	White House Reed Pollock
Family	NA
Spouse	NA
Current status	Active
Portrayed by	Peter MacNicol
Seasons	6

Thomas Lennox is a fictional character from the television series 24, played by Peter MacNicol. He first appeared in the first episode of 24's 6th season, where he plays the White House Chief of Staff of President Wayne Palmer. Prior to serving as White House Chief of Staff, Lennox served as Policy Director on both Wayne & David Palmers' Presidential Campaigns. Thomas Lennox is a former member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. He also serves on the boards of the Georgetown Institute, the James P. Williams Center for Public Affairs, and the Catalyn Foundation. He has published numerous articles and essays on topics including constitutional law, political philosophy, and public policy, and has co-edited several books.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Both Sandra Palmer and David Palmer are reputed to have disliked Lennox, as he is willing to go beyond the boundaries of the Constitution when matters of national security arise. This is evident in hour 6 of Day 6. Karen Hayes learned that Lennox set up more radical defensive measures without the President's authorization, and confronts him. Lennox gets tired of Karen's persistence and asks an associate to make Karen "...go away." Later in the hour, Lennox blackmails Karen into resigning, stating "...I need room to work." Faced with the evidence, Karen does indeed step down within the hour, and Lennox is shown in the preview for episode 7 using her resignation as an opportunity to convince the President to sign off on the more extreme measures.

Despite Lennox's urging, the President convened the cabinet and the Vice President to tell them he refuses to sign off on Lennox's proposals. Despite a personal apology and expression of appreciation from Palmer immediately after, Lennox's frustration explodes into rage when he returns to the privacy of his office with his subordinate Reed Pollock. He declares he intends to resign, because he "cannot, in good conscience, be party to" Palmer's weak handling of the current national crisis, and asks Pollock to draft his letter of resignation.

Later, Pollock approaches him and hints at a conspiracy to "remove" Palmer from office in order to allow Noah Daniels to assume the Presidency, as Daniels would be much more likely to authorize the plan put forward by Lennox. Despite his own disagreement with Palmer's decisions, Lennox is horrified by Pollock's implications and refuses, asking him to leave and finish his letter of resignation. Shortly after, however, the White House receives a flash report regarding Abu Fayed's escape from CTU and his acquisition of a working arming device for his remaining nukes. Shocked by how drastically the situation has worsened, Lennox calls Pollock and asks him to forget the letter of resignation, stating that he would like to "discuss further" the darker matter they spoke of earlier.

Lennox and Pollock meet in an unmonitored room in the bunker, where Pollock asks Lennox to bring him a copy of Palmer's itinerary, particularly regarding Hamri Al-Assad's upcoming televised appearance. Lennox demands to know who else is involved in this conspiracy, but Pollock refuses to say. Lennox agrees to obtain Palmer's itinerary.

Later, Lennox tries to warn the Secret Service about the assassination plot but is knocked out by Pollock. Pollock proceeds to tie up Tom, and he can only watch as the bomb maker and Pollock carry out their threat.

After Pollock unsuccessfully attempts to kill President Palmer, he and the bomb maker release Lennox, on the promise that he will stay quiet. Lennox quickly betrays the two and hands them over to the authorities, but is unable to convince Vice President Daniels that Hamri Al-Assad is being framed for the assassination attempt on Palmer. Daniels says that he will clear Lennox of all charges, provided that Lennox will agree to blame Assad for the attack and go along with the plan to implement his original security measures. Lennox is visibly troubled at this.

When Karen Hayes returns in response to the assassination attempt on Palmer, both she and Lennox show apprehension at Daniel's decision to launch a nuclear missle at Fayed's country should another nuclear attack happen on US soil. This happens within the hour in San Francisco, and though Jack Bauer is able stop the nuke from exploding, radioactive material is released in the industrial park where it crash-lands. Daniels decides to order the strike, despite both Hayes and Lennox's adamant objections.

[edit] Experience

White House - Special Advisor to the President/White House Chief of Staff
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