Josh Discovers Donna's Revoked Credentials
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Josh confides in Sam about Donna's revoked credentials due to her mentioning a non-existent missile silo, realizing the truth behind her statement.
Josh checks on Donna, who jokes about his nickname, while he privately resolves to fix her credential issue.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Concerned and curious; steadying presence who wants clarity and to assist but not to overreact.
Sam walks with Josh, listens closely, responds with wry support, asks clarifying questions about what 'struck close to home' means, and absorbs the political/security weight of the revelation without histrionics.
- • Understand the factual scope of the alleged security issue
- • Support Josh and Donna while ensuring truth and accountability
- • Help contain political damage if necessary
- • Make sure actions taken are proportionate
- • Staff should be defended but accountability matters
- • Leaks or loose talk can quickly become institutional problems
- • Accurate information is necessary before public reaction or political strategy
- • Josh will act to protect his staff
Protective determination laced with anxiety—he is resolute to contain damage but unsettled by the possible security implications.
Josh pulls Sam aside, concedes Sam was right, recounts the Donna leak and an NSA visit, pauses to think in the Northwest Lobby, then proceeds to the bullpen to greet Donna and Michael and pledges to 'make phone calls' to fix the problem.
- • Contain and defuse the security/investigation risk tied to Donna's remark
- • Protect Donna's job and reputation within the West Wing
- • Prevent the rumor from becoming a wider political or intelligence crisis
- • Restore normal access and clear up the misunderstanding quickly
- • Quick, aggressive internal action can prevent escalation
- • Loyalty to trusted staffers matters and they deserve protection
- • Institutional actors (NSA/Staff Secretary) will respond to perceived threats and must be engaged directly
- • Political fallout from security scares is dangerous and must be minimized
Sheepish and embarrassed beneath a cheerful mask—she treats the situation lightly but is implicitly vulnerable to professional consequences.
Donna sits at her desk in the bullpen with Michael Gordon, banters with Josh, displays an embarrassed but upbeat demeanor, and is the subject of the credential revocation after repeating an offhand remark to a magazine.
- • Maintain rapport and normalcy with colleagues
- • Minimize the perceived seriousness of her mistake
- • Keep her position and access intact
- • Rely on Josh to defend and resolve the problem
- • Information from coworkers can be treated conversationally
- • Her place on the team makes her resilient to mistakes
- • Josh will support and protect her
- • Banter is a suitable response to defuse awkwardness
Restrained professionalism—concerned about protocol and the need to follow security procedures but careful not to inflame political drama.
Michael Gordon sits with Donna in the bullpen as a quiet, procedural presence; earlier he visited Josh to report the NSA concern, and in the bullpen he remains matter-of-fact and professionally discreet about the credential revocation.
- • Ensure institutional security protocols are followed
- • Relay necessary information to political staff through proper channels
- • Limit unnecessary leakage while enabling investigation
- • Protect classified information and the integrity of the investigation
- • Potential compromises to classified installations must be investigated
- • Proper channels (Staff Secretary/NSA) should handle security concerns
- • Political staffers need to be informed but not allowed to obstruct procedures
- • Credential control is an effective lever to manage access during an investigation
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Donna's teen-magazine interview is the concrete vehicle that turned an offhand, oral rumor into a published artifact. The interview is cited as the moment her repetition of the silo claim became visible to outside agencies, triggering the NSA visit and credential suspension.
The alleged missile silo on White House grounds is referenced as the substantive kernel of the security concern; it transforms a rumor into a potentially classified issue, compelling NSA interest and forcing staff to consider national-security implications.
Donna's White House credentials are cited as the immediate, tangible consequence of the security concern—their temporary revocation signals institutional action and heightens the stakes from personal embarrassment to operational disruption.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Josh's bullpen is the practical site where the abstract problem meets the person affected: Donna sits at her desk with Michael. The bullpen's normalcy and banter contrast the gravity of credential revocation, making the human stakes palpable and prompting immediate interpersonal damage control.
The Northwest Lobby functions as a reflective transitional beat: Josh stops there, the weight of the revelation registers, and he mentally processes the escalation. It's where private realization shifts to deliberate action before he moves to confront the human side of the fallout.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
The Staff Secretary's Office is the institutional channel through which Michael Gordon operates; it serves as the conduit for formal notifications about security concerns and is implicated in the procedural response that led to Donna's credential revocation and the initiation of an investigation.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"The political fallout from Rooker's withdrawal drives Bartlet's later decision to reallocate funds and accept the mistake."
"The political fallout from Rooker's withdrawal drives Bartlet's later decision to reallocate funds and accept the mistake."
"The political fallout from Rooker's withdrawal drives Bartlet's later decision to reallocate funds and accept the mistake."
Key Dialogue
"LEO: The President has withdrawn Rooker's name from nomination."
"JOSH: Remember Donna had lunch with Mack's assistant a few weeks ago? He told her there's a missile silo on the grounds. She repeated it to a magazine and an NSA guy came to see me just now, and said she struck a little close to home and they want to investigate. In the meantime, they've revoked her credentials."
"DONNA: By the way, you know what your name is for the next month? JOSH: It's going to be bambi, isn't it? DONNA: Yeah, it's going to be Bambi-ass. JOSH: I'm making phone calls."