Exposing the Leak: Leo Confronts Hutchinson Over Khundu Casualties
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Leo privately confronts Miles Hutchinson about Pentagon resistance to Khundu intervention, revealing leaked casualty estimates.
Leo exposes Pentagon obstruction by revealing the true casualty estimate (150) versus inflated numbers leaked to the Wall Street Journal.
The confrontation escalates as Hutchinson questions Leo's priorities, leading to a heated exchange and Hutchinson's abrupt exit.
Leo vents his frustration by throwing papers and knocking over a glass of water, physically manifesting the tension from the confrontation.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Absent but presented as competent and pragmatic — a backstage fixer whose presumed actions shorten bureaucratic delays.
Nancy McNally is invoked by Leo as someone who 'prints' reports to expedite distribution; she does not appear but her procedural workaround is used to explain how the President saw the forced‑depletion document.
- • (Inferred) Expedite important intelligence to principals when normal channels are too slow.
- • Bypass bureaucratic friction to ensure decision‑makers have necessary information.
- • Timely distribution of critical reports sometimes requires informal expedients.
- • Practical action trumps procedural purity in urgent crises.
Irritated and defensive; masking concern about institutional exposure with bluster and procedural justifications.
Miles Hutchinson stands his ground defensively, repeatedly minimizes the framing of the massacre by invoking military historical comparisons, explains chain‑of‑command and claims the document resulted from a raid, then storms out when Leo won't relent.
- • Protect the Department of Defense's processes and credibility from political fallout.
- • Contain dissemination of sensitive internal assessments and avoid giving the President unvetted figures that could force rapid action.
- • Operational and chain‑of‑command integrity is paramount, even if it slows White House access to raw estimates.
- • Publicized casualty figures must be managed carefully to avoid strategic and political damage.
Concerned (inferred) — the looming decision‑maker whose welfare of troops and moral posture toward Khundu is at stake.
President Bartlet does not appear but is repeatedly invoked as the principal who needs casualty estimates to decide on troop deployments, making him the moral and operational referent for Leo's urgency.
- • (Inferred) To receive accurate information to make a just and strategic decision about intervention.
- • Avoid being misled by inflated or politicized casualty figures.
- • The President must be given raw facts to make morally defensible choices.
- • Higher office-holder bears responsibility for the lives affected by intervention decisions.
Righteously indignant with rising frustration; surface control cracking into physical venting when institutional obstruction continues.
Leo remains in the Situation Room after the directors exit, directly confronts Secretary Hutchinson, cites the forced‑depletion report, presses the moral and operational implications, and physically vents by throwing papers and knocking over a glass when Hutchinson leaves.
- • Ensure the President receives accurate casualty estimates before deciding on troop deployment.
- • Expose and stop bureaucratic obfuscation or leaks that distort public perception and policy choices.
- • Accurate intelligence and timely information are morally and politically essential for presidential decisions.
- • Bureaucratic delay or spin is dangerous and must be challenged directly by White House leadership.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
A stack of papers serves as the tangible frustration point: Leo gathers and then slams them down, using them to punctuate his anger. They function as props that translate intellectual dispute into a physical, emotional release.
The Forced Depletion Report is the evidentiary hinge of the exchange: Leo cites the document's 150 casualty estimate to contradict the Wall Street Journal's inflated numbers and to demand the President be given accurate figures. It functions as proof that the Pentagon's internal estimate is lower than public reporting.
A glass of water, incidental until Leo's outburst, is knocked over when he throws the papers. The spill visually punctuates the scene's emotional peak and underscores the breakdown of restrained decorum.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Republic of Equatorial Khundu is the distant locus of atrocity discussed; its human toll and the question of 'genocide' drive the confrontation. Khundu functions as the moral object of the debate — the proximate reason Leo demands accurate counts and Hutchinson defends DoD posture.
Gettysburg is invoked by Hutchinson as a historical comparison to downplay the label 'genocide' for mass military losses, reframing moral language through precedent and scale.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
Central Command (represented by Hutchinson's references to supplying bordering countries and military posture) is the DoD element whose estimates and posture Leo challenges. Its operational priorities and chain‑of‑command norms shape Hutchinson's defensive stance.
The State Department is referenced as handling the diplomatic, public face of Khundu — issuing alerts and coordinating international overtures — contrasted with DoD's operational posture. It forms the backdrop for Leo's lament that diplomatic visibility exists while military estimates lag.
The Wall Street Journal is the media actor whose published casualty figures (an inflated 'thousand') catalyze Leo's confrontation. Its reporting has shaped public and congressional perception, forcing the White House to respond to inaccurate battlefield narratives.
The Arkutu‑Directed Mob is referenced as the violent actor in Khundu to which the U.N. has made overtures; its actions are part of the humanitarian crisis that triggers the White House debate.
The Intelligence Community is the implied source of the raw reports Leo references — the body producing 'INTEL' that suggests mass slaughter and produced the forced‑depletion estimate used in the debate.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Leo's confrontation with Hutchinson about Pentagon leaks leads to Jack Reese's reassignment."
"Leo's confrontation with Hutchinson about Pentagon leaks leads to Jack Reese's reassignment."
"Leo's confrontation with Hutchinson about Pentagon leaks leads to Jack Reese's reassignment."
Key Dialogue
"LEO: "...It's not a thousand. We saw a forced depletion report, it's 150.""
"HUTCHINSON: "You saw a forced depletion report?""
"LEO: "He asks you and three days mange to go by before he sees it, Mr. Secretary. Yet miraculously, the Wall Street Journal, on day two, the numbers inflated all to hell. It's 150, not a thousand.""