Danny Forces C.J. to Name the Rift
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Danny shifts the conversation to the weather and then privately probes C.J. about the administration's stance on genocide, revealing underlying tensions.
Danny reveals information about Shareef's pilot and hints at Pentagon rifts, escalating the conversation's stakes.
C.J. acknowledges the Pentagon tensions but deflects Danny's deeper probe into Executive Orders, ending the conversation with a mix of humor and firmness.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Not present; implied steady competence and political-mindedness.
Josh is invoked by C.J. as the internal conduit for researcher access; he does not appear but is functionally implicated as the gatekeeper to staff resources.
- • Maintain staff control over sensitive internal information
- • Ensure research access is routed through trusted channels
- • Leads on sensitive personnel matters should go through senior staff
- • Controlling researcher access helps limit leaks
Exasperated composure — outwardly measured but alert to reputational danger and privately defensive about the administration's narrative control.
C.J. transitions from public briefings to private control: she deflects reporters, brusquely enforces boundaries in the hallway, then moves the exchange into her office, tests and confirms factual claims, and directs Danny to internal research channels.
- • Contain any public perception that the White House altered assassination policy
- • Prevent the conversation from spiraling into a media crisis over Shareef or a White House leak
- • Institutional language and careful phrasing can limit political damage
- • The State Department and senior staff control the proper public narrative
Surprised and probing — unsettled by legalistic evasions on moral issues.
Katie questions C.J.'s distinction between 'acts of genocide' and 'genocide,' signaling journalistic confusion that increases pressure on C.J. and sets tone for the private urgency.
- • Clarify the administration's use of language on atrocities
- • Expose any obfuscation in official rhetoric
- • Language choice has moral and political weight
- • Reporters must force concrete definitions from officials
Professional curiosity — pressing for facts about international participation.
John participates in the opening press exchange by asking about Nigeria's attendance, helping establish the public briefing's diplomatic context before the private confrontation begins.
- • Clarify which countries were involved in Arkutu talks
- • Hold the administration to specifics in public statements
- • Precise facts matter for public accountability
- • Press briefings are opportunities to pin down official positions
Insistent and cautious — he wants the scoop but diplomatically offers a heads-up, signalling both obligation to his craft and an attempt to avoid gratuitous damage.
Danny shifts from teasing to reporter-on-duty seriousness: he pushes C.J. for clarity, reveals that he has an intelligence-source story about Pentagon factionalism and a claim about rescinded Executive Orders, and asks for researcher leads.
- • Confirm and publish a significant national-security leak
- • Secure sources and researcher access for corroboration
- • The press must hold institutions accountable, especially on covert-policy claims
- • Pentagon sources sometimes use leaks to send internal messages
Not present; represented as part of a binary military divide.
Percy Fitzwallace is named by C.J. as the opposing figure to Hutchinson in the Jets/Sharks split; he functions as the institutional foil in the described Pentagon rift but does not appear.
- • (Implied) Defend Pentagon norms and chains of command
- • (Implied) Counter rival faction influence
- • (Implied) Institutional cohesion must be maintained
- • (Implied) Leaks erode operational effectiveness
Off-stage; potentially imperiled reputationally by claims that orders were rescinded.
President Bartlet is referenced as the alleged target of a turf message and the ostensible author (or rescinder) of the Executive Orders; he is not present but his authority and credibility are the stakes around which the conversation orbits.
- • Preserve presidential authority and clarity over covert-policy boundaries
- • Avoid appearance of clandestine policy reversal
- • Presidential decisions must be transparent to retain legitimacy
- • Institutional leaks threaten executive credibility
Absent physically; potentially vulnerable to scrutiny given role as conduit for info.
Donna is named as the person through whom researchers can access Pentagon-detailed employees; she is not present but is immediately implicated as a potential node in any internal leak chain.
- • Support her office's research needs
- • Protect colleagues while managing access
- • Staffers must shield internal processes from casual exposure
- • Researcher access should be mediated to prevent misuse
Soberly probing — pressing on legal obligations to force clarity from the administration.
Steve raises the legal backbone (1948 U.N. Convention) during the briefing, framing the moral-legal stakes that make the later leak about Executive Orders dangerous.
- • Test the administration's legal responsibilities under the Genocide Convention
- • Expose any gap between law and policy rhetoric
- • International law should constrain state action
- • The administration must be held publicly accountable to treaty obligations
Not present; evoked as bereaved relative's subject and as a factual thread reporters pursue.
Jamil Bari is referenced by Danny as Shareef's missing pilot and as having trained at Augsbury Aviation; he is not present but his fate anchors the Shareef angle and gives the leak a human trace.
- • N/A — referenced as a factual locus for the reporting
- • N/A
- • N/A — his mention implies distrust of official accounts regarding the crash
- • N/A
Mentioned only; cast as a figure around whom factional loyalties coalesce.
Miles Hutchinson is named by Danny (via a Pentagon officer) as being perceived by some as the true Commander-in-Chief; he is invoked to indicate the depth of institutional fracture.
- • (Implied) Assert military authority over contested policy decisions
- • (Implied) Protect institutional prerogatives
- • (Implied) Military leadership can and should influence policy when civilian control is uncertain
- • (Implied) Sending messages via leaks can shape White House behavior
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Danny's notebook functions as a visible prop that marks the transition from light banter to serious reporting; C.J. commands Danny to close it, signaling control over what becomes on-record and underscoring the sensitivity of the material he carries.
The Executive Orders (11905 and 12333) are invoked as the substantive allegation: the Pentagon officer claimed they were rescinded. Mentioning the orders transforms the exchange from rumor into a concrete policy allegation with legal and moral consequences.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The West Wing Hallway is the transitional, semi-private corridor where the dynamic shifts: C.J. walks with Danny, the tone tightens, and the conversation moves into her office. The hallway functions as the space where professional theater gives way to behind-the-scenes damage control.
Bulgaria functions as an off-stage geographic clue invoked when Danny reports Jamil Bari's training at Augsbury Aviation there; it widens the story's scope and suggests international footprints to the alleged covert operations.
The Press Briefing Room provides the public frame that precipitates the private confrontation: reporters press C.J. on legal and diplomatic specifics, establishing the rhetorical pressure that follows them into the hallway and office.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
The Sharks (named faction) are part of the Pentagon's internal split and are referenced to map loyalties; they are narrative shorthand for one pole in the Jets/Sharks binary Danny and C.J. discuss.
The United States (federal government) is the broader actor whose treaty obligations, executive orders, and institutional credibility are at stake; the conversation implies national-level consequences from the leak.
The Pentagon is the implied origin of the factional split (Jets vs. Sharks) and the institutional theater where the turf message was crafted. Its internal disagreements are presented as the proximate cause of the leak Danny describes.
Augsbury Aviation is invoked as the specific, tangible lead in Danny's reporting on Jamil Bari, offering a concrete investigative thread linking a pilot's identity to foreign institutions and possibly covert operations.
The Department of State appears via a memo C.J. cites instructing staff not to label events 'genocide,' thereby shaping the administration's public legal posture and constraining press messaging.
U.S. foreign intelligence activities are the alleged source network: Danny cites an officer from this organization who relayed a factional message up the chain, making intelligence apparatus behavior central to the leak and its interpretation.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Danny's revelation about Pentagon rifts leads directly to the discovery of Donna's involvement in the leak, escalating the internal crisis."
Key Dialogue
"C.J.: The problem is the Convention distinguishes between acts of genocide and genocide."
"DANNY: Rifts at the Pentagon."
"DANNY: 11905 and 12333? C.J.: Yeah. DANNY: Making it illegal to assassinate a foreign leader. I told you it was a little about Shareef."