Tad Whitney

Tad Whitney materializes as the spurned State Department job candidate, striding onto the Kennedy Center terrace where his shadow triggers C.J. Cregg's visceral panic mid-crisis call. Passed over in favor of Simon Glazer, his bold approach pierces her professional armor, quip about Potomac chill barely masking dread of raw confrontation. Amid Galileo probe antenna blackout and staff boos from Gary Saunders, Whitney embodies festering grudges that snag White House gears, his unyielding pursuit injecting personal vendetta into procedural peril and eroding focus on Bartlet's Mars ambitions.