Jayne Atkinson as Karen Hayes

Karen Hayes is portrayed by Jayne Atkinson in the series, 24. Karen Hayes is the former Director of the United States Department of Homeland Security in Los Angeles. She is the wife of Bill Buchanan.

Karen is a graduate of the prestigious Princeton University, where she majored in Sociology. Before she became part of Homeland Security, she spent some years working as an FBI Agent. During the course of her employment at the FBI, she belonged to the Counterterrorism Division, where she not only was a Senior Agent, but was ultimately promoted to Division Agent in Charge.

On Day 5, Vice President Hal Gardner gave Karen permission to take over the Los Angeles Division of the Counter Terrorist Unit. Karen was the head of Homeland Security at the time, and aggressively carried out her task by replacing the remaining CTU Agents with her own people. As the day progressed, she began to question the need for her presence at CTU. Her suspicions were fueled when President Charles Logan called for the arrest of former CTU agent Jack Bauer for murdering former President David Palmer. Nevertheless, she went ahead and focused their operations towards monitoring Audrey Raines and Chloe O’Brian, two of Bauer’s supporters. When Hayes located Bauer, she informed President Logan, but surprisingly, she was told not to send a CTU squad to capture Bauer. This ultimately convinced Hayes that President Logan was trying to kill Bauer.

Hayes foiled Logan’s plans by informing Bill Buchanan, the Director of CTU-Los Angeles. At the end of the day 5, Bauer was able to find evidence implicating President Logan, while KAren and Bill expressed their desire to start dating. Later on, Karen and Bill tied the knot. On Day 6, she became the National Security Advisor to President Wayne Palmer, but almost resigned because she often conflicted with Chief of Staff Thomas Lennox.



(Photo courtesy of FOX)