Robert Hawkins (portrayed by Lennie James) was, during most of Season 1, a complete enigma, with no one sure whether he was a good guy or bad guy. He had secrets he was unwilling to share, even with his family. His history had estranged him from his wife and children; but, in truth, they are the only ones he cares about—when he realized the September Attacks were coming, his first thought was to get them to safety.
Hawkins moved to Jericho with his wife, Darcy, and his two children, Alison and Samuel, three days before the attacks. He paid cash for the "Thompson house", leading to much gossip around the town about his background. Hawkins claimed he was a former police officer from St. Louis, Missouri, and explains his knowledge and expertise comes from having received training from the Department of Homeland Security after the September 11, 2001, attacks. In truth, the family had been living in Washington, D.C. When cornered, Hawkins claimed to be working undercover for the FBI to learn more about "suspicious contacts in this area" that may be linked to the Attacks.
Unknown to the rest of the town, Hawkins is deeply involved in clandestine activities. These include secret communications with unknown persons through a locked laptop computer, the monitoring of shortwave radio messages, and the storage of a large unmarked barrel containing the 20-kiloton (kt) nuclear device that he was assigned to deliver to Columbus, Ohio, and detonate. He is later contacted by his associates, who know that he is lying to them.
Though his family initially did not know the truth, they keep a low profile and constantly rehearse their cover story but, eventually, he reveals the truth to them and to Jake that he is a CIA deep-cover covert operations officer and a U.S. government agent who took part in Project Red Bell, a task force sent to recover a shipment of stolen Russian warheads and stop the bombing. Even though he failed in that, he still had one of the bombs, which could be used to uncover the conspiracy that started it all. Hawkins proves his loyalty to Jericho over the course of Season 1.
In Season 2, Hawkins and Jericho saw the rise of the ASA and its dominance over the country. Seeing the ASA was attempting to dominate the country and bury the truth behind the Attacks, Hawkins and Jake teamed up to deliver the bomb to the Independent Republic of Texas and expose the conspiracy and, in so doing, started the Second American Civil War.
Read more about this topic: List Of Jericho Characters, Main Characters