Bartlet Deflects with Nitroglycerin Terror Threat
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Bartlet transitions from small talk about bourbon to discussing a serious terrorist threat involving nitroglycerin, showing his burden of leadership.
Toby questions the FAA's process, revealing his analytical mind and the tension between protocol and crisis management.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Absorbed in unrelated task (inferred)
Sam is referenced off-screen by Toby in prior context as refining the Correspondents' Dinner speech, indirectly framing the meeting's surface agenda before terror pivot.
- • Polish humor for the dinner speech
- • Wit strengthens political communications
Intense focus laced with probing urgency, veiling deeper loyalty-testing frustration
Toby accepts the bourbon politely, then pivots to aggressive scrutiny, interrupting Bartlet's pivot to confession by demanding specifics on FAA evidence requirements, production methods, and timelines, his questions slicing through the terror brief like a prosecutor.
- • Expose gaps in the administration's crisis response protocols
- • Force clarity on FAA's evidentiary and timing thresholds for action
- • Bureaucratic hurdles endanger national security during threats
- • Presidential decisions demand rigorous justification and speed
Neutral competence amid rising tension
Charlie facilitates entry into the Oval just prior, enabling the group's ingress for the drink ritual and terror discussion, then recedes from the frame as the interrogation unfolds.
- • Smoothly coordinate access to the President
- • Maintain operational flow in the Outer Oval
- • Precise protocol upholds White House rhythm
- • Subtle support bolsters senior staff dynamics
Irrelevant (arrested off-screen)
Redin Hassan is invoked by Bartlet as the Algerian-born terrorist arrested at the border, his smuggling plot catalyzing the crisis discussion without physical presence.
- • Smuggle nitroglycerin across border
- • Borders are permeable to terror operations
serious
Offers and prepares bourbon drink for Toby, shares bourbon trivia, reveals arrest of terrorist Redin Hassan with nitroglycerin, announces embassy closures in Tanzania and Brussels on State and Intelligence advice, discusses FAA requests, then discloses his MS diagnosis history.
- • Deflect with terror threat discussion
- • Reveal MS diagnosis to Toby
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Outer Oval televisions flicker with The Tonight Show and CNN during the pre-entry wait, their discordant glow indirectly bleeding into the Oval tension via Leo and Toby's recent exposure, symbolizing external chaos intruding on internal crises.
The bourbon and white serves as a ritualistic social lubricant offered by Bartlet and accepted by Toby, segueing into trivia that abruptly masks the terror revelation; its clinking ice and Kentucky lore symbolically deferring explosive truths, heightening subtextual deflection in the Oval's intimate power play.
Bartlet references Redin Hassan's U-Haul truck as the smuggling vehicle seized at the border, weaponizing its mundane rental facade to underscore terror's insidious normalcy, propelling the discussion toward FAA scrutiny and embassy actions.
The ten 2-ounce jars of nitroglycerin are spotlighted by Bartlet as Hassan's volatile payload, their compact lethality amplifying the threat's immediacy and justifying rapid embassy closures, while fueling Toby's FAA timeline demands in a narrative escalation of perceived peril.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The U.S.-Canadian border is cited by Bartlet as the arrest site of Hassan and his nitroglycerin cargo, transforming a procedural frontier into a symbol of breached homeland security that Bartlet leverages to pivot from trivia and stoke Oval urgency.
Bartlet announces the closures of U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Brussels on intel advice, their shuttering invoked as decisive action against the nitroglycerin ripple effect, heightening the event's global stakes and Bartlet's feigned command amid personal deflection.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
CNN broadcasts on Outer Oval television during the lead-up wait, its urgent national news pulse indirectly framing the Oval ingress and terror pivot, amplifying real-world scrutiny on White House reactions to border threats.
The Tonight Show plays on the second Outer Oval screen amid Leo-Toby wait, its comedic irreverence contrasting the impending Oval gravity, subtly underscoring tonal whiplash from levity to terror as they enter.
Intelligence advises Bartlet alongside State on closing Tanzania and Brussels embassies in response to Hassan's arrest, their counsel positioned as authoritative rationale for swift action, underscoring shadowy threat assessment driving Oval decisions.
The FAA emerges as a bureaucratic foil when Toby grills Bartlet on their demands for heightened security and Air Force mobilization, highlighting evidentiary hurdles and holiday delays that Bartlet shrugs off, crystallizing interagency tensions in threat response.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Leo convincing Bartlet to reveal everything to Toby leads to Bartlet's revelation of his MS diagnosis."
"Toby's confrontation with Bartlet about his MS diagnosis continues his relentless pursuit of truth."
"Toby's confrontation with Bartlet about his MS diagnosis continues his relentless pursuit of truth."
Key Dialogue
"BARTLET: "An Algerian-born terrorist named Redin Hassan was recently arrested at the Canadian border in a U-Haul carrying ten 2-ounce jars of nitroglycerin.""
"TOBY: "What about the FAA?""
"TOBY: "Sir-excuse me, sir, does the FAA have to produce evidence of a credible theory?""