No Concessions — Leo's Blowup and the Calm Order
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Bartlet and Fitzwallace discuss the potential for a pre-emptive strike by Israel and what Qumar might demand in exchange for standing down.
Leo expresses anger over the suggestion to offer something to Qumar, leading to a tense exchange with Bartlet.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Detached, clinical: delivering data that raises the room's tension without commentary.
The Situation Room officer relays sensor intelligence: AC Recon Striker reports 30,000 troops massing and MILSAT confirmation — supplying the factual backbone that accelerates the crisis and demands a posture decision.
- • Provide clear, timely intelligence to inform presidential decisions.
- • Ensure the President and chiefs have corroborated sensor data to reduce ambiguity.
- • Reliable intelligence reduces miscalculation and enables proper defensive steps.
- • Clear presentation of sensor data compels timely political and military action.
Quietly attentive: positioned to operationalize intelligence if needed.
Director Kato is identified on the secure line as a participant; his presence signals intelligence/operational reach and readiness to execute orders if directed.
- • Provide intelligence/operational options as required.
- • Remain prepared to support executive decisions with discrete capabilities.
- • Operational readiness and secrecy are essential to crisis management.
- • Centralized direction from the President is needed to coordinate covert responses.
Professional and attentive: facilitating the flow of the secure call without visible emotion.
Berryhill is listed among the hook-ins on the secure line and functions as an administrative presence enabling the conference call and staffing logistics for the crisis briefing.
- • Ensure appropriate personnel are connected to the secure brief.
- • Provide logistical/admin support as required.
- • Administrative coordination matters for secure crisis communications.
- • Keeping key staff connected preserves operational continuity.
Cautiously matter-of-fact: delivering hard military realities without theatricality, focused on options and consequences.
Chairman Fitzwallace provides sober military counsel over the phone, warns of the risk of Israeli pre-emption, confirms that Qumar would demand concessions to stand down, and receives the President's DEFCON/DEFCON orders.
- • Ensure the President and staff understand realistic military risks and options.
- • Receive clear, executable orders to posture forces appropriately.
- • Military facts should drive policy decisions; clear orders prevent miscalculation.
- • Allies' pre-emptive actions are plausible and must be anticipated in U.S. planning.
Professional and ready: prepared to weigh military options against diplomatic risks.
National Security Advisor Nancy McNally is named among remote participants, representing the NSC presence and available to advise on regional implications and options.
- • Advise the President on national security consequences and interagency coordination.
- • Ensure intelligence and military posture inform diplomatic messaging.
- • Policy choices must balance military deterrence with diplomatic openings.
- • Interagency coordination prevents mixed signals to allies and adversaries.
Urgent but composed: responding swiftly to orders with practical readiness plans.
Ken Hutchinson, on the phone, acknowledges the President's order and confirms CTU will go to high alert, translating the President's posture decision into domestic security readiness.
- • Bring CTU to heightened alertness as ordered.
- • Ensure domestic security components are synchronized with military posture.
- • Domestic counterterror capabilities must reflect overseas posture to mitigate blowback.
- • Prompt execution of presidential orders is critical to reassuring partners and staff.
Businesslike and focused: delivering capability numbers without editorializing to enable decision-making.
A military advisor (Mike persona) reports operational detail: the Independence is being deployed to the Gulf and it has 75 aircraft — factual inputs that shape the President's available posture choices.
- • Convey current force dispositions and capabilities accurately.
- • Secure directives that clarify how those assets should be postured.
- • Concrete force numbers and deployments matter for credible deterrence.
- • Operational clarity from political leadership is required to position assets effectively.
Controlled, dryly humorous on the surface; resolute and authoritative when converting debate into operational command.
President Bartlet leads the ad-hoc briefing, asks pointed strategic questions, reins in a public spat with Leo, and issues the measured order raising Qumar bases to Defense Condition Three while holding overall forces at DEFCON Four.
- • Stabilize the room and prevent a public quarrel with his chief of staff.
- • Convert intelligence into a calibrated military posture that deters escalation without full mobilization.
- • Public displays of internal discord weaken military confidence and international signaling.
- • A restrained, credible military posture can deter further escalation while preserving diplomatic flexibility.
Anticipatory and procedural: being brought into the loop to advise on diplomatic consequences.
Peter from State is referenced as still being hooked in or being connected, indicating the State Department's expected diplomatic role in the continuing crisis discussions.
- • Prepare diplomatic options and messaging.
- • Coordinate with military and intelligence on international signaling.
- • Diplomacy must accompany any change in military posture.
- • State must be present early to avoid contradictory signals to allies and adversaries.
Angry and confrontational on the surface; his fury masks fear of appearing weak and of military consequences.
Leo forcefully rejects the tactical idea of offering concessions, erupts angrily in front of the Joint Chiefs, and presses the President on the moral and strategic impropriety of 'giving' anything to Qumar.
- • Prevent any sign that the administration will barter away leverage to Qumar or Israel.
- • Protect the President's authority by forcing clarity on posture rather than equivocation.
- • Concessions will be seen as weakness and increase the chance of further aggression.
- • Decisive posture and clear refusal of bargaining protect American credibility and allies.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The aircraft carrier Independence is referenced as the asset being deployed to the Gulf in response to the crisis; its movement is used to demonstrate U.S. capability and to harden deterrent posture during the briefing.
The AC Recon Striker is the recon asset whose feed is cited as reporting 30,000 troops massing at the Syrian border; its imagery triggers urgency and frames the tactical reality confronting the administration.
MILSAT confirmation is referenced to corroborate AC Recon Striker reports, lending higher confidence to the intelligence picture and prompting leadership to make definitive posture decisions.
The fact '75 aircraft aboard the Independence' is cited to quantify U.S. air power available to deter escalation, providing concrete scale to the President and advisors weighing DEFCON adjustments.
The presence of '30,000 troops massing at the Syrian border' is treated as an objectified intelligence indicator that escalates the crisis and supports Leo's warnings and Fitzwallace's counsel.
Defense Condition Three is the specific posture Bartlet orders for U.S. bases in Qumar; referenced as the calibrated step up in readiness intended to signal seriousness without full mobilization.
DEFCON Four is cited as the overall U.S. forces posture that Bartlet retains even as he raises Qumar bases to DEFCON Three—this dual posture balances heightened regional alert with broader restraint.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Syrian border is referenced as the physical locus where 30,000 troops are reported to be massing — it represents the immediate geographic flashpoint that elevates the risk of wider regional conflict.
The Saybrook Institute barn functions as an improvised Situation Room where the President, Chief of Staff, military advisors, and hooked-in officials gather; its rural, ad-hoc setting contrasts the federal power being exercised inside its wooden walls.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
The State Department is implicitly involved through Peter from State being hooked in, indicating diplomatic channels are active and will need to manage the international fallout and messaging.
Israel is described as the external actor likely to launch a pre-emptive strike if it feels threatened; its potential unilateral actions frame the immediate problem set for the administration.
The Sultanate of Qumar is the crisis focal point; Fitzwallace warns that Qumar will 'show its teeth' and demand concessions, making Qumar both the victim of Israeli strikes and the potential escalator.
CTU is invoked and placed on high alert by Ken Hutchinson at the President's order, connecting domestic counterterror readiness to overseas posture changes and possible blowback.
The Joint Chiefs are physically present or represented and act as the immediate military audience to the Bartlet–Leo argument; their presence forces discretion and shapes the theatricality of internal disagreements.
The U.S. Military is the executing institution whose assets (carrier, aircraft, readiness levels) are being postured. The President's orders translate into immediate operational directives, tying political decisions to military execution.
Hezbollah is named in the regional threat inventory (short- and medium-range missiles) highlighting indirect escalation risks that shape Israeli threat perceptions and the U.S. assessment of danger.
Syria is implicated as the nearby actor where troops are massing at the border; its proximity escalates the risk of larger regional involvement and informs U.S. deterrence calculations.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"The interruption from the Qumar crisis leads directly to Bartlet's defensive strategy discussions with Leo."
"The interruption from the Qumar crisis leads directly to Bartlet's defensive strategy discussions with Leo."
"Leo's anger at Qumar negotiations escalates to Bartlet ordering the fleet to intercept the Mastico."
"Leo's anger at Qumar negotiations escalates to Bartlet ordering the fleet to intercept the Mastico."
Key Dialogue
"FITZWALLACE: "They launch a pre-emptive strike.""
"LEO: "We should think of something we can *give* them?!""
"BARTLET: "Mr. Chairman, would you put our bases in Qumar at Defense Condition 3 with the U.S. Military at Defcon Four?""