Kashmir Leak — C.J.'s Credibility on the Line
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Toby arrives at Leo's office and learns about the India-Kashmir crisis from Leo.
C.J. confronts Leo about being kept in the dark regarding the India-Kashmir crisis.
Leo attempts to reassure C.J. that her credibility can be repaired once the India story breaks.
C.J. exits, leaving Leo and Toby to share a knowing look about the unfolding crisis.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Righteously indignant at being blindsided, masking acute embarrassment and fear for professional reputation.
C.J. arrives already aware she has been publicly undermined; she presses for facts, recounts having denied the story on air, and reacts with visible humiliation and anger while taking Leo's instruction about how to recoup credibility.
- • Ascertain the facts so she can correct or defend her earlier public statements.
- • Protect her professional credibility and minimize damage from the leak.
- • Being kept out of the loop undermines both her job and public trust.
- • Institutional framing can repair a damaged media narrative if handled decisively.
Restrained, quietly anxious; professional focus on facts rather than comfort.
Toby provides blunt, confirming details (troop count, ship presence) and acts as corroborative presence — factual ballast that transforms rumor into a hardened threat picture and undercuts C.J.'s earlier dismissal.
- • Ensure the team has accurate details to inform both diplomatic response and press guidance.
- • Protect the President and administration by clarifying the reality of the threat.
- • Precise facts must drive response; ambiguity increases risk.
- • Honesty with the press can be shaped but not fabricated — better to control the framing than to be surprised.
Cool, decisive; pragmatic concern for institutional stability rather than personal sympathy for C.J.'s embarrassment.
Leo delivers the operational fact (India moved troops), frames the U.N. role and timeline, recruits C.J. into forthcoming press preparation, and calmly counsels damage control — trading C.J.'s immediate reputation for the administration's larger ability to control the story.
- • Preserve the administration's ability to shape the public narrative and manage international fallout.
- • Bring press strategy and senior staff into alignment for an imminent diplomatic response.
- • Controlling the narrative is essential to managing both domestic politics and foreign crises.
- • Individual reputational costs are sometimes necessary to protect broader institutional interests.
Composed and businesslike, attentive to timing and personnel flow rather than the emotional content of the exchange.
Margaret enters briefly, providing a logistical cue ('Leo...') and confirming C.J.'s presence and the meeting's seriousness; she functions as quiet operational support in the room's choreography.
- • Ensure the right people are present and briefed for the following actions.
- • Keep the meeting on schedule and support Leo's operational needs.
- • Order and timely communication are essential to crisis management.
- • Small procedural actions (who is present) materially affect larger operational outcomes.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The four destroyers are named by Toby as part of the confirmed naval assets accompanying the incursion, serving as a concrete indicator of escalation and lending weight to Leo's damage-control argument about the severity of the situation.
The FOIA/subpoena packet is invoked conversationally by Donna as part of the background legal pressure surrounding Josh and the leak. It functions as the procedural specter that complicates messaging and highlights that legal processes are shadowing the political crisis.
The four CVEs are cited as additional naval power present with the incursion, amplifying the scale of India's forces and confirming that air cover and amphibious capability are part of the picture—escalating the diplomatic stakes.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Oval Office is referenced as the prior site of conversation and as an origin point for C.J.'s confusion about what was known and when; its invocation signals the gap between private presidential discussion and what staffers are told.
Leo's Office is the immediate locus where the revelation is delivered and triage is assigned—staff converge here to translate military intelligence into press strategy and to manage interpersonal fallout between Leo and his communications director.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
No narrative connections mapped yet
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Key Dialogue
"LEO: India sent troops into the neutral zone in Kashmir. The U.N Security Council's gonna try to negotiate a cease-fire, but we believe we're gonna start to play a role in the next forty-eight to seventy-two hours."
"C.J.: You told me the lid was on."
"LEO: As soon as you tell 'em India's the story, this is forgotten."