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This article's subject relates to Season 6 of 24.

Bruce Carson was a private-sector security specialist with an office in Washington, D.C. He conspired with Reed Pollock in an assassination attempt on President Wayne Palmer before and during Day 6. He was an expert bomb-maker.

Before Day 6[]

Carson, Reed Pollock, and several other co-conspirators were frightened by Abu Fayed's wave of terror across the United States. They judged that President Wayne Palmer was an ineffectual leader during a dangerous time, so they enacted a sophisticated plan to assassinate him should he continue to lead the country in a way they disagreed with. As the crisis of Day 6 approached, Carson and Pollock remained in contact, ready to undertake their assassination plot. Pollock would be the key figure to the execution because he was the Deputy White House Chief of Staff serving Tom Lennox directly.

Day 6[]

Shortly after 1pm PST (4pm EST), Reed Pollock called Carson to tell him that Tom Lennox planned on resigning. This would limit Pollock's access to the White House, and Carson told him that Lennox needed to stay in place in order for their plan to assassinate President Wayne Palmer to succeed. When Pollock suggested for Lennox to bring Tom in on their plot, Carson had no other option but to agree to it.

Three hours later, Carson arrived at the White House and he was able to gain access to the building with Pollock's help. Pollock told him that Lennox tried to warn Secret Service agent Hollister about their plan, and Carson stated he knew that Lennox was playing them. Carson arrived at the boiler room in the bunker and he suggested they kill Lennox, and make it look like a suicide. Pollock refused and insisted that such a murder would be unjustified and that they still needed Lennox alive. Carson said he would need 25 to 30 minutes to assemble his bomb.

When Lennox attempted to set himself free, Carson stopped him and told him that he would kill him if he tried again. Carson finished the bomb and gave Pollock the tape recorder. He gave Reed the trigger device and told him the president would have to be within 10 feet of the bomb. Pollock detonated the bomb around 4:58pm PST (7:58pm EST) and the president was found unconscious, along with Hamri Al-Assad, who tried to save him.

A little after 5pm PST (8pm EST), it was confirmed that President Palmer survived the blast and Assad was killed. The medical staff was able to stabilize Palmer, but it was too early to make a proper prognosis. Carson felt it would be best to kill Tom, but Pollock still insisted that Lennox be left alive. When Pollock told Carson he would have to kill both him and Tom, Carson allowed for Pollock to reason with Lennox. To persuade Lennox, Pollock revealed to him that Carson had matched his bomb-making signature to the specific techniques used by Assad's terrorists, and therefore assassination attempt would therefore be safely pinned on Assad. It seemed like Lennox would cover-up Pollock's and Carson's involvement in the assassination attempt, but he told Agent Lowry about their involvement in the plot, Pollock and Carson were then taken into custody, and a hearing was set up with the Attorney General.

Background information and notes[]

  • The group of co-conspirators supporting Carson and Lennox was never named: no other members were identified, and they were mentioned only once on screen (at approximately 1:19pm). However, Reed Pollock gave a desperate and lengthy confession to chief investigator Peter Hock to escape the possibility of the death penalty. It is highly likely that Reed betrayed these co-conspirators since the authorities already had Bruce Carson in custody.
  • At about 3:26pm, when Reed Pollock first shared information about Carson to Tom Lennox, Pollock handed Lennox some documents about him. On them was the name Thomas Young and the address 1456 Carson Drive, Washington DC.

Live appearances[]

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