Authorize Delta Extraction — 'We Got to Go Get Them'
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Bartlet makes the critical decision to authorize a rescue mission, stating simply, 'All right, we got to go get them'.
Fitzwallace details the military operation plan involving Delta Force and Special Ops, specifying their use of Comanche Attack-Recon helicopters from Ghana with a 70% success probability estimate.
Bartlet formally gives the operation order, concluding the briefing with military precision as Fitzwallace and Leo acknowledge the command.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Professional restraint—clear-eyed and steady, communicating risk without drama to enable a presidential decision.
From the Situation Room, delivers the operational briefing: names units, describes rehearsals in Ghana, specifies RH‑66 Comanches and a 70% success estimate, and frames when the President should give the order.
- • Convey realistic operational capability and risk to the President.
- • Secure the necessary presidential authorization at the appropriate moment.
- • Operational timing and rehearsal materially affect success probabilities.
- • Clear, honest military advice helps the President make sound decisions.
Businesslike composure—focused on protocol and creating the conditions for an honest, private briefing.
Opens the scene by announcing the President and Mr. McGarry, facilitates the private meeting by announcing and enabling the room clear, and stands by as the President takes the call.
- • Ensure the President has privacy and an uncluttered space for classified discussion.
- • Support the flow of critical information between the Situation Room and the President.
- • Sensitive decisions require controlled access and professional discipline.
- • Clear lines and protocol reduce noise and allow principals to focus.
Tense professionalism—aware of stakes, deferential and slightly anxious as senior leaders take control.
Staffers rise and leave when asked; they create physical and symbolic space for the private exchange and then wait outside, signaling institutional deference to the principals' conversation.
- • Respect the President's request for privacy and preserve confidentiality.
- • Remain ready to act on instructions once the principals conclude.
- • Senior decision-making requires staff to step back.
- • Moments of crisis are the President's domain to lead.
Determined urgency—surface control and clarity masking the moral weight and fear that delay means death for the hostages.
Clears the meeting room, lifts the phone and, while intercut with the Situation Room, listens, questions, and then authoritatively gives the order to attempt the Delta Force extraction despite risk.
- • Rescue the three captured Marines with all available means.
- • Resolve the moral paralysis into concrete action before the ultimatum expires.
- • Delay or broad deployment risks the hostages' lives.
- • The presidency requires making hard calls under uncertainty; military counsel is authoritative and must be heeded.
Not present physically; their contribution carries implied urgency and the hazardousness of human-sourced intelligence.
Referenced by Leo as a key HUMINT source used to fix the captives' location; their prior reporting is a decisive factor in justifying direct action.
- • Provide actionable location intelligence to enable rescue.
- • Maintain credibility and utility to U.S. decision-makers.
- • Human intelligence can supply critical, location-specific details that technical means alone cannot.
- • Providing timely information can save lives despite personal risk.
Impersonal reliability—acts as an evidentiary backbone rather than an emotional agent.
Cited as electronic eavesdropping corroborating informants; technical surveillance anchors the location claim and shortens the margin for doubt.
- • Provide verifiable signal intelligence to support operational decisions.
- • Reduce uncertainty about the hostages' whereabouts.
- • Signals intelligence can confirm and augment human reporting.
- • Timely intercepts are crucial in time‑sensitive rescue scenarios.
Endangered and unseen—their peril is the emotional lever compelling presidential action.
The three captured Marines are the subject of the entire decision: described as held in a barracks and at grave risk of execution, their lives are the moral axis of the scene.
- • Survive captivity and be recovered safely.
- • Return to U.S. custody without further harm.
- • They rely on their government to attempt rescue.
- • Their lives may hinge on the timeliness of an authorized operation.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Bartlet takes the private briefing phone to receive the Situation Room's live feed; the handset functions as the literal conduit between the President and operational commanders, enabling the intercut dialogue that produces the order.
The RH‑66 Comanche is invoked as the attack‑recon insertion platform for the Delta Force raid; its mention anchors the tactical feasibility of the plan and helps quantify Fitzwallace's 70% success estimate.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Ghana training camp is the staging and rehearsal ground where Delta Force and 26 Special Ops have been practicing the mission; its readiness informs Fitzwallace's confidence and the 70% success estimate.
The barracks roughly 37 miles east of Bitanga is the objective and emotional epicenter: where the Marines are held, where execution risk is imminent, and the place the rescue must reach—its existence compresses the timeline and forces the presidency into action.
The meeting room (represented by the adjacent staff office canonical entry) is the intimate, cleared space where Bartlet withdraws to privately receive the Situation Room's report and render judgment; it serves as the president's private seat of moral responsibility.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
Delta Force is presented as the operational instrument for the rescue: a small, elite unit rehearsing in Ghana and poised to execute a high‑risk, time‑sensitive hostage extraction once the President authorizes it.
First Special Forces is named as part of the operational package paired with Delta Force, providing additional special operations capability and reinforcing the assault's viability.
26 Special Ops is cited as the designation of the operational team executing the raid; its recent rehearsals in Ghana form the factual basis for the mission recommendation.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"The briefing on the Marines' location leads directly to Bartlet's authorization of the rescue mission."
"The detailed military operation plan is executed, resulting in the successful rescue of the hostages."
"The detailed military operation plan is executed, resulting in the successful rescue of the hostages."
"Bartlet's concern about the Marines' execution under full deployment foreshadows the later casualties from the retaliatory attack."
"Bartlet's concern about the Marines' execution under full deployment foreshadows the later casualties from the retaliatory attack."
Key Dialogue
"LEO: Well, I don't know, but the three Marines would certainly be executed."
"BARTLET: All right, we got to go get them."
"FITZWALLACE: ...when they've got it right in Ghana, that's when we'll recommend that you give the order, sir, and if that happens, we believe there's a 70 percent chance of success."