Karen Hayes

Karen Hayes is a fictional character on the television program 24 portrayed by actress Jayne Atkinson. She appeared in 12 episodes of the fifth season. She is part of the main cast in season six.

Hayes was the Director of the United States Department of Homeland Security's Los Angeles branch at the time of Day 5. Vice President Hal Gardner authorized her to absorb and essentially replace the workers at CTU - Los Angeles after a major terrorist attack left many of CTU's original employees dead. Hayes quickly usurped the current CTU head Bill Buchanan and replaced most of CTU's staff with her own employees at Homeland Security.

Throughout the rest of the day, she began to have doubts on whether the absorption was necessary. She also grew suspicious of her superiors when President Charles Logan issued an executive order for the detainment and arrest of Jack Bauer, who had previously been helping CTU and Hayes, for assassinating former President David Palmer. When Hayes queried Logan for evidence, he told her it was forthcoming. This was especially troubling for Hayes because her workers were already hard at work tracking Christopher Henderson, a known member of the conspiracy responsible for Palmer's death, and were forced to shift resources in order to find Bauer. Unbeknownst to Hayes, Logan had issued this order so that he could silence Bauer, who was at the time gathering evidence that implicated Logan in the day's events.

She followed her orders by tracking the movements of Audrey Raines and Chloe O'Brian, two of the few CTU workers that were still active after the Homeland Security absorption. When she discovered Bauer's location and notified President Logan of this, he told her not to send a CTU squad because he was going to use the military to capture Bauer. Hayes was perplexed by the President's actions. Her suspicions were further heightened when she learned from Mike Novick that Logan had never contacted the military about Bauer.

Chloe was subsequently detained for taking action directly against Homeland Security. She was able to escape detention, although in order to get past Shari Rothenberg, Chloe was forced to disclose the truth about President Logan. When Hayes questioned Shari about that conversation, Shari told her of Chloe's suspicions. A phone call to Novick then revealed that no member of the executive office had still yet seen Logan's "evidence" against Bauer. Based on the President's actions in the past hours, Hayes was convinced that Logan was indeed manipulating CTU in order to kill Bauer. Realizing that Chloe was vital to Bauer's success in finding evidence against Logan, Hayes called Buchanan to warn that Homeland Security had traced Chloe to his house and a squad was on their way to arrest her.

While Jack followed the tape onto a private jet leaving Van Nuys Airport, Hayes worked with Chloe to determine which passenger had intercepted the tape from Henderson. When the pilot begins to depressurize the baggage hold where Jack is trapped, Hayes patches Jack through to the pilot to alert him to the situation. Eventually, she and Chloe determine the copilot has the audio tape.

President Logan responds by ordering an F18 fire upon the plane. Hayes brings Chloe back to CTU where, along with Buchanan, the three work to find Jack a landing space suitable for an emergency landing. Meanwhile, Hayes is reluctantly forced to disclose the current situation to Miles. Later, she orders Vladimir Bierko be transferred to holding at Division. Bierko subsequently escapes and Hayes recommends that Henderson be offered a deal in exchange for his help in finding Bierko. With Henderson's information, CTU learns that he plans to seize a Russian submarine in a Los Angeles port, pursuant to the treaty signed earlier by Logan. Hayes, together with Buchanan and Chloe, aids Jack in successfully stopping Bierko from firing the submarine's missiles.

After Jack successfully obtained a confession from Logan, Hayes prepares to leave CTU for the day. She acknowledges to Buchanan that she will strongly recommend to newly appointed President Gardner that he remain as Special Agent in Charge of CTU. Both Hayes and Buchanan indicate a desire to begin a social relationship.

Season 6 is to find Hayes working at the White House as National Security Advisor to President Wayne Palmer. She is married to Bill Buchanan.