Leo Briefed on Presumptive Mad Cow Case
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Leo enters the Roosevelt Room to find a group of men waiting for him, setting a tone of urgency and formality.
Leo is introduced to Doctors Bedrosien and Califf, establishing the professional context of the meeting.
Leo directly asks the purpose of the meeting, cutting to the chase and setting up the revelation of the crisis.
Doctors Bedrosien and Califf reveal the potential mad cow disease outbreak in Nebraska, introducing the central crisis of the scene.
Leo presses for clarity on the severity of the situation, revealing his growing concern and the potential national emergency.
The doctors outline the worst-case scenario, including a national emergency and massive recall, highlighting the stakes of the crisis.
Leo acknowledges the gravity of the situation and requests further education on the issue, showing his commitment to understanding and addressing the crisis.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Professionally detached yet urgently informative, focused on clarity amid high stakes
Introduced formally, methodically explains Nebraska herd's banned feed quarantine 18 months prior, details tissue dispatch to NVSL Ames and UK lab, reports Iowa presumptive positive while cautioning against mad cow confirmation.
- • Convey quarantine history and test chain accurately to Leo
- • Stress presumptive status to avoid premature conclusions
- • Veterinary science requires rigorous multi-lab verification
- • Transparent reporting equips leaders for informed decisions
Cautiously urgent with underlying apprehension, balancing facts against catastrophe
Introduced alongside Bedrosien, describes downer cow's neurological collapse—inability to stand—insists on UK tests for confirmation, delineates national emergency and class-one recall worst-case, discloses stark 12,000 tested versus 40 million cattle reality.
- • Illuminate symptoms and testing scale to underscore crisis magnitude
- • Advocate confirmatory caution before escalation
- • Preemptive national measures hinge on verified science
- • Scale of U.S. herds demands exhaustive vigilance post-presumptive hit
Gravely concerned under steely professional composure, masking alarm at national implications
Enters purposefully, thanks group for waiting, greets doctors curtly, demands purpose of meeting, probes test details relentlessly—'And?', 'Mad cow?', 'Worst case?'—absorbing crisis scale with commanding poise, ending in admission of knowledge gap.
- • Fully comprehend mad cow threat scope for presidential briefing
- • Gauge immediacy and worst-case fallout to activate response protocols
- • Crises demand swift, precise information extraction from experts
- • Presidential team must anticipate economic and public health Armageddon
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Bedrosien explicitly cites the banned feed as the accidental contaminant fed to Ogalala Nebraska herd 18 months ago, triggering quarantine and the downer cow crisis; it functions narratively as the human-error spark igniting potential nationwide bovine plague, framing the briefing's peril.
Doctors detail tissue ripped from the symptomatic downer cow, dispatched to NVSL Ames (presumptive positive) and UK lab for verdict; it embodies the diagnostic linchpin, propelling Leo's questions and revealing stakes from one ravaged sample to millions, central to crisis authentication.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Serves as tense daytime arena where Leo enters to face waiting experts for impromptu mad cow briefing; its formal confines amplify urgency, hosting rapid-fire Q&A that distills rural outbreak into executive threat, pivotal amid episode's colliding crises.
Bedrosien specifies Ames as NVSL hub processing downer cow tissue for initial tests—presumptive positive—elevating Midwestern lab to frontline sentinel; its role underscores decentralized testing chain feeding White House alarm.
Bedrosien pinpoints Ogalala as epicenter where banned feed tainted herd 18 months back, quarantined ever since; remotely invoked, it grounds the abstract threat in heartland reality, symbolizing vulnerable agricultural underbelly exposed in Beltway crucible.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
Bedrosien reveals NVSL in Ames conducted first-round tissue tests yielding presumptive mad cow positive from Nebraska downer cow; as federal veterinary nerve center, it propels the briefing, arming Leo with data on vast untested herds amid potential recalls.
Doctors stress sample forwarded to UK's Central Veterinary Laboratory for confirmatory mad cow verdict, positioning it as impartial transatlantic arbiter whose ruling could unleash emergencies; Leo's crisis pivots on its pending judgment, heightening stakes.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"The initial mad cow disease warning escalates to Leo painting the full economic catastrophe scenario for Bartlet."
"The initial mad cow disease warning escalates to Leo painting the full economic catastrophe scenario for Bartlet."
"The mad cow disease timeline progresses from initial medical briefing to CJ being informed."
"The mad cow disease timeline progresses from initial medical briefing to CJ being informed."
Part of Larger Arcs
Key Dialogue
"LEO: Mad cow?"
"BEDROSIEN: We don't know that."
"LEO: But we think?"
"CALIFF: We have to wait for the UK tests."
"LEO: Worst case scenario?"
"CALIFF: We declare a national emergency and a class one recall. Mr. McGarry, we've tested over twelve thousand samples and none of them have come up positive."
"LEO: Twelve thousand out of how many?"
"CALIFF: Forty million adult cattle."