Madam Secretary (2014–…): Season 5, Episode 13 - Proxy War - full transcript

Have we confirmed
the type of bomb?

Preliminary forensics
indicate a CBU-87

anti-personnel
submunition dispenser.

Conventionally known
as a cluster bomb.

Yeah, and the U.S. houses
the only company in the world

that manufactures it.

A weapon we provide
only to Israel.

Which means our closest
Mideast ally just implicated us

in a massacre that took the
lives of 29 innocent children,

and if we provided the weapon,
we're on the hook.

Call the Israeli Embassy.
Get Ambassador Dworsky in here.



Ma'am, we've been trying.
He's incommunicado.

Well, then we're gonna have to

get him on the fly because,
Jay, I got to brief POTUS.

Will you bring our congressional
allies into the loop?

Yes, Madam Secretary.Okay.

? Yes. Yes.

And . Want you
to reach out to the families

of those children. I mean,

burial logistics,
humanitarian relief,

whatever we can do
to show our solidarity.

Yes, ma'am. Stay on point.

Acknowledge the tragedy,

but no acceptance
of responsibility

until it has been
thoroughly investigated, okay?



Statement for your review
to that very effect.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah. Th-That's g-good.
Get that out.

Okay?

Before you send it out...

Hey, listen,
this is a priority, okay?

Everything else

takes a back seat. ALL Yes, ma'am.

American imperialism
has to stop!

We are the world's bully. Wait!

Hey! Hey, you work with
the White House, right?

I'm just a guy trying
to meet his step quota.

Ladies and gentlemen,
one of the architects

of our immoral foreign policy.

If you'll excuse me...

No, I will not excuse you.

Neither will the children
you bombed.

My God, you have no idea
what you're talking about.

I have a right to my opinion.

I'm not saying you don't,
but while you're out here

smearing us,
I'm in there 16 hours a day

actually trying to fix some of
the things you're raving about.

An American-made cluster bomb!

L This is your
issue du jour, right?

Yesterday it was
Social Security.

Last week, what,
the vaccine conspiracy.

I'm holding government
accountable.

Who's holding you accountable?

Well, certainly not
a government lackey.

Let me tell you a thing or two
about this lackey.

Syria is a dumpster fire,
Mr. President.

You got the oppressive
Nussir regime

locked in a brutal civil war
with rebel forces.

Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah

supporting the government.
The opposition forces

are backed by a U.S.-led
Western coalition.

Meanwhile, Iran's smuggling
arms to Israel's enemies

through the country
and Israel's bombing the convoys

as fast as it can.

Syria and Israel
are still technically

in a state of war.

Russia is trying to expand
its role in the region.

You got Shiites and Sunnis

and a rising tide
of Islamic terrorism.

I'd need a weekend retreat
to talk about

the human rights
violations and...

Basically,

U.S. and Russia
are using client states

to control an unstable region.

Danger is that
the proxies drag us

into a conflict with Russia.

Concise.

Here to help.

Russia's already
using this incident

as a pretext

to expand military support
to Syria.

If Russia gets more
involved with Syria...

We have to back Israel,
which increases the risk

of an American conflict
with Russia.

Which it's bedrock
U.S. policy to avoid.

Dozens of dead children?
There has to be accountability.

Bess, what do we hear
from the Israelis?

I've summoned Ambassador
Dworsky. I'll get his side.

Well, get it fast.

, you familiar with the
Convention on Cluster Munitions

banning the use
of this type of weapon?

Yes, sir. 120 signatories
around the world,

excluding the United States
and Russia.

Well, I'd like you
to red team this,

get with DNI. I want
to know how this happened.

Tragedy of this dimension
means that we need

to re-evaluate our stance here.

Mr. President,

not to minimize
the human toll here,

but this question has been
asked and answered.

Resoundingly. U.S. policy
is not to limit

the weapons at our disposal.

Folks, I value your input,

but let's save it
for your roundtable.

Thank you. Yes, sir.

Yes, sir.

I'll be rolling calls on this
cluster bomb debacle, Adele,

so no interruptions.
If it ain't DEFCON 1,

not a peep. Yes, sir.

That goes for all birds.

I have to show him, don't I?

What did I just say?

I know. I'm sorry.

L Nothing but
crackpot notions.

Excuse me.

No, I'm not calling you
a crackpot.

There's plenty of well-adjusted,
sane individuals

who set up tents
around the White House.

I have a right to be here.

Yes, you do, where
criticizing is easy.

Governing is hard.

Put that on your
next sign and smoke it.

That...

that is taken completely
out of context.

She accosted me.

My God, I look like

I'm berating a homeless woman

for having the nerve
to talk to me.

You know what?
I will handle this.

Please.

I don't have time
for this nonsense.

Carol.

This is all over
the Internet, isn't it?

Hi, sweetheart. What?

No, I was drinking decaf.

Yes. Of course I know that-that
getting into shouting matches

with strangers is bad
for my blood pressure.

I do not have an
anger management problem!

The United States would
like to extend our condolences

for this tragedy.

Thank you.

Um, we would also like
to connect the families

who have lost children with NGOs

who can provide support.

Yes. They can defray
funeral costs.

They can assist
with asylum claims.

What about our children?

We're expressing
our deepest sympathies.

Sympathies.

For an American-made bomb
that murdered our sons,

that took the flowers
from our garden,

the light from our lives.

We don't want NGOs.
We want justice.

We want our children back.
Can you give us these things?

Ma'am, I have Alison for you.

Hey, kiddo, little busy here.

Mom, the Internet is slow,
like Stone Age slow.

Well, call our provider.

They keep you on the phone
forever,

and my paper on Givenchy
is due tomorrow.

Try the library.

They have Internet and helpful,

smiling people who aren't trying
to save the world order

from crumbling.

Bye, Ali.

Jason, do you know how
to fix the Internet?

Well, the open-source culture
generally doesn't mesh well

with WPA supplicant
configuration files.

So...

I'm not accusing you
of anything, Ambassador Dworsky.

I'm asking for an explanation.

And I'm giving you one.

The IDF is not in the habit
of bombing children.

I never said habit.

I'm hoping it was an accident.

The world will see it
as a war crime.

Precipitated by
a weapon we only provide

to Israel.

Meaning the burden of proof
is on your country to establish

that it had no involvement
in this bombing.

And if we can't
prove a negative?

First things first.

Syria is now
an Israeli no-fly zone.

And all shipments

of the CBU-87 will be suspended
pending our investigation.

So now the U.S.
is doing Iran's bidding.

Ambassador Dworsky... If
America handcuffs us,

Iran will have carte blanche
to expand its military presence

in Syria and continue
arming our enemies.

United States
won't let that happen,

Mr. Ambassador. Let it happen?

You're facilitating it
by helping Iran scapegoat us.

We're simply asking

for you to put a moratorium
on IDF sorties

until we can get
to the bottom of this.

And will there be a moratorium
on Iranian arms convoys?

On the build-out of
Iranian infrastructure

just miles from Tel Aviv?

If America's not willing

to defend us, then we will
defend ourselves.

Good day, Madam Secretary.

Cluster bombs have an important
strategic role to play

in U.S. military policy.
By dispersing

multiple packets at once,

they allow us
to neutralize vehicles

and enemy personnel
in a single blast.

You know, and more to the point,
Moscow uses them, so we have to.

Yeah, tell that to the parents
of the 29 children.

It's about mutual
deterrence, .

Gifting the Russians
a strategic advantage

risks asymmetric warfare.
We're talking about

an anti-personnel weapon
whose sole purpose it is

to maximize carnage and death.
Okay, come on,

, every weapon
in creation has that goal.

It's not the tool, it's
how it's used. Okay.

So we should build in
additional safeguards.Yes.

Like imposing more
stringent rules

of engagement on Israel,
which we can discuss.

I'm a of the strategic
and military concerns,

but there are serious
ethical considerations

that we've got
to take into account.

98% of submunition casualties

around the globe are civilian.

98%. All right.

All valid points.

We need to find out
what happened,

move this conversation forward,

and provide POTUS
with a swift recommendation.

in terms
of a timetable...

I'm not rushing you, .

This should be done
as quickly as possible,

but not quicker.

This is SatNav footage
taken nine hours ago

of the Russian-operated Khmeimim
Air Base in northwestern Syria.

What you see here is a Syrian
MiG-29 taxiing on the runway.

It's hardly news that
the Syrian Air Force

uses Russian air bases. Yes, sir.

But the flight trajectory
of this plane is telling.

What you see now
is a payload being dropped

at a ceiling of 15,000 feet.
Namely, a CBU-87.

Its laser-guided target

is an abandoned lot.

This video is
time-stamped 11 seconds

before that cluster bomb
detonated on those kids.

I'll spare you the visual
of the impact.

So the cluster bomb was
dropped from a Syrian plane

that took off from
a Russian base.

Meaning that Israel was right
about being framed.

They just had the wrong culprit.

It wasn't Iran.

It was Russia and Syria.

Ephraim, I'd like to know
how the hell

Syria got ahold of one
of our cluster bombs.

We're still working that out, sir.
Mr. President,

we have a more pressing
problem now.

Russia. It's one thing
to coordinate with a proxy.

It's another
to collaborate with them

to frame our chief
U.S. ally in the region.

HILL And if Russia
uses this incident

to get more closely
involved in the region,

it could tip the
balance of power.

I'm not gonna tolerate any more
Russian expansionism.

It's time we had a tough
discussion with Syria.

A country with whom we have
no diplomatic relations.

No, but I can back channel.

- Now, Bess.
- Yep.

Because if Russia's making a
power play, we have to respond.

With force. Yes, sir.

I trust, as President
Nussir's first cousin

and a private citizen,

you can pass on the
administration's message.

Which is?

This is footage of a Syrian jet

dropping the cluster bomb.

No. This is footage
of a Syrian jet

flying into dense
cloud coverage.

Inconclusive at best.

I don't think that's how
you want to play this. Play what?

Israeli fighter jets were in
the vector at the same time.

Yet you prefer to slander
our government

by suggesting
we would deliberately

slaughter our own children?

Rebel children...
living in Aleppo,

a city under insurgent control.

The CBU-87 is American-made.

And you give it only to
our sworn enemy, Israel.

Whom you'd be all too happy

to scapegoat.

President Dalton is demanding

Syria take public responsibility
for this bombing.

And if we don't?

Once we have conclusive proof
Damascus is behind this,

we will seek
additional sanctions

against your government,

which is already
on the brink of collapse.

This is an outrage.

The outrage is 29 dead children.

We still have our friends,
Madam Secretary,

even if your country
isn't among them.

But I'll relay your
message to President Nussir.

And he has one for you.

When we prove Israel
and the United States

were behind this,

Syria won't be the one
facing sanctions.

Dynametrics Munitions

has never missed
a delivery date,

had a cost overrun,

or been accused of misconduct.

And let me assure all of you
that the chain of custody

of every piece of ordinance
that we manufacture,

including the CBU-87s,
can be accounted for.

We operate in strict accordance
with DOD regulations.

One of these weapons fell into
Russian or Syrian hands.

It had to have happened after
delivery to the Israelis.

Leland, we appreciate
the due diligence,

but can you talk to us about
collateral damage estimates?

Mr. President.

Sorry to interrupt, .

Just want to say hi
to an old golfing buddy.

How are you, Leland?
Good to see you, Conrad.

When, Dr. McCord here
is done examining you,

come by for a Scotch.

As you were, everyone.

How come you're staring

at everything tonight
like it's cauliflower?

No appetite.
This cluster bomb thing.

Feel like you're being played?
Like a banjo.

Turns out the CEO
of the contractor

who manufactures this bomb
is one of the president's BFFs.

Where are you
on the bomb's provenance?

Well, forensics are ongoing.

Ephraim's team is trying

to determine what batch
the cluster bomb was from.

That way they can lock down

the munitions delivery date
to Israel.

Hopefully shed some
light on how Syria

got its hands on the bomb.

Yeah, it's gonna be weeks
before they button that up.

Lean on Ephraim to share his
preliminary results with you.

Why would he do that?
Professional courtesy.

One intel pro to another.

Yeah, I guess.

How are you doing?

Flailing.

Israel and Syria
are stirring the pot.

The proxies are out of control.
What about the principals?

Avdonin told me to kiss off.

Unlike you, I eat my feelings.

Ali was right.

Our Internet is junky.

Hey, did you call the ISP guy?

Yeah, they said that
there's nothing they can do.

They ran a diagnostic,
and apparently our bandwidth

is overloaded.

Seems like a lot of new devices

have recently been added.

You know, when I
took out the garbage,

I saw a bunch of empty boxes
with computer stuff,

like graphics cards,

external hard drives, CPUs.

I thought, I don't know,
maybe it was you or...

Me? I don't even know
what that stuff is.

Jason!

SpectroCoin.

Heard of it? Nope.

It's a cryptocurrency,
and I'm mining it,

so I networked the house's iPads
and laptops and desktops.

Meaning our computers are slow.

Because you turned them
into your drone army.

I lost my financial aid.

You guys told me
to be entrepreneurial.

We didn't tell you
to play the lottery.

I'm not. Look,

when global instability leads
to currency fluctuation,

people turn to decentralized
cryptocurrencies.

So, with the whole mess
going on in Syria...

So you're betting against

me being good at my job.

No, no, it-it's arbitrage.

Look, I made three grand this month.
You did?

Less the money that you blew.

Right.

Invest in infrastructure.

That's the first rule

of financial success.

Will you guys please
let me do this?

Please?

You release all of our
devices from cyber bondage.

And limit your hijacking
of the Internet to when we're

asleep or at work. Understood?

Yes.

But I will need to buy
some new equipment

to optimize functionality.

The things is, I'm a little...

I'm a little strapped for cash.

Second rule of
financial success

Never ask your
parents for money.

Her name is Maggie...

Stevie!

Those tireless criticisms seem
to have finally hit home.

Fresh off an
awkward confrontation

with the president's
chief of staff.

Stevie! I thought you were
gonna put a lid on this.

I'm trying. I went to see her.

I-I offered her space
in a shelter.

I told her I'd get her
a meeting with Social Services.

I brought her coffee.

What did she say? "No."

"Stuff it."

And she only drinks oat milk
lattes, extra hot.

She was yelling into the abyss.
Now she's got a megaphone?

Keep the crazy lady at bay.

I know, I know. I think
I may have found something.

Years ago, Maggie was
an up-and-coming scholar

doing a dissertation
with government funding,

which she lost because of
allegations of plagiarism.

Um, she was eventually cleared,
but by that time

she'd been drummed out
of academia.

And that began her descent. Why
is this interesting to me?

Because I have an idea.

Something that may help
defuse the situation.

Now, please. I don't want

to hear about this again. Okay.

Hi.Dr. McCord to see you.

Home and abroad, the world's
coming apart, .

Seems like it's down
to the McCords to save it.

Well, I don't think
this McCord is

coming to the rescue quite yet.

Per Ephraim, preliminary
analysis of the bomb fragments

confirms the alloy
was Russian in origin.

Are you saying the cluster bomb
was a Russian knockoff? Yep.

So, if this was all just
Russia and Syria

trying to set us up,
we're off the hook.

Slow down, l.

The metallurgical analysis
doesn't exonerate us.

It points to a bigger problem.

For Russia to have
replicated the CBU-87,

they would've needed
the weapon schematics.

Someone at Dynametrics Munitions
could be dirty.

Which means America could
still have blood on its hands.

All right, stay on it.

I want to know the extent
of Dynametrics' culpability.

Will do.

20 minutes ago,
a Russian troop transport

was shot down over Aleppo;
43 soldiers dead.

Have we heard from the Israelis?

The Israelis didn't
destroy the plane, sir.

Syria did.

Friendly fire?

It would appear so.

Well, I don't care if
it was an act of God.

Russian soldiers dead,
Moscow will respond.

Meaning the situation is
deteriorating fast.

If proxies are blowing
their principals' planes

out of the sky, the situation's
untenable for everyone.

Which could give us an opening.

Get with Avdonin, Bess,
before that opening closes. Yes, sir.

Thank you for meeting with me,
Mr. Foreign Minister.

I was stateside to tour
consulates when you reached out.

I thought a sit-down
would be fruitful.

I thought so, too.

This friendly fire incident
underscores the peril

we now find ourselves in,

and how easily the chaos
could draw our two countries

into direct conflict. I agree.

Especially since it wasn't
friendly fire.

Intel on the flight path
of an Israeli F-16 jet,

which establishes it
deliberately flew behind

our transport plane
the moment a Syrian battery

locked onto the
Israeli intruder.

Israel murdered our soldiers.

We followed the protocols.

Moscow was given
a 60-second warning

before we entered
Syrian air space.

Was apprised of
our flight pattern,

our mission objective. I think we both know

what Israel's true intentions
were, Mr. Ambassador.

Given the lengths
Russia and Syria went

to frame Israel
for that cluster bomb,

it seems like poetic justice

to see Moscow's client state
shoot down a Russian plane.

This treachery was precipitated

at the direction
of the United States.

That's a fabrication.

And you want to talk
about treachery?

How about Russia forging
a U.S. bomb,

and giving it to Syria
to murder children?

And doing it all

to frame the U.S.?

Even if that fantasy were true,

it hardly justifies a conspiracy
to kill Russian soldiers.

We need to de-escalate.

Israel has to issue a statement

acknowledging
its role in this crisis.

What role?

The role of defending
our tiny country

against a swarm of enemies
backed by Moscow?

In light of this aggression,

Russia will be supplying Syria

with an upgraded
air defense system.

If Russia is augmenting.

Syria's military capabilities,
we demand the latest

in U.S. technology...

So you want us to put you
on a war footing with Syria.

We won't sanction an arms race.

The U.S. has always

used Israel as a pawn
for America's agenda.

You give us weapons,

then handcuff us when
we try to use them.

Give us money,
but tell us how to spend it.

Thank you very much,
but we are the ones at risk.

And we know how to
protect ourselves.

Russia will not tolerate

the murder of its citizens.

An immediate response
will be forthcoming.

So we're sure

Russia wasn't given
the schematics for the CBU-87?

Yes. According
to our investigation,

there was no malfeasance,
just negligence.

More like gross negligence,

behind DOD's back.

Dynametrics gutted
their cyber security budget

so they could undercut
competitors on government bids.

In the process, creating
vulnerabilities Russia exploited

by hacking the
company's database.

Thanks, Ephraim.

Well, thank God we're not
looking at treason here.

Well, cutting corners
is no cause for celebration.

Dynametrics's
digital infrastructure

is woefully underfunded
and just this side of legal.

Agreed, but as long
as they played by the rules...

You can technically play by
the rules and still be at fault.

That's what ethics
are all about.

Well, you can put it all
in your report.

Speaking of which,
how's it coming?

It-it's evolving.

Evolving.

Right. You know,

there's a lot at stake here.

After having refused to sign
on to the cluster bomb ban,

an about-face in the wake
of a single tragedy

could be seen
as an admission of wrongdoing.

Or as an assumption
of moral responsibility.

Moral responsibility

has its costs.

One of which will be
to tar the president.

And the Secretary of State.

New proposals
to help the relatives

of the dead children.
I tried to get creative.

By reallocating
some of our UNHCR funds

for housing allowances
to the affected families.

Exactly. Except this isn't
a refugee crisis.

Homes weren't destroyed;
Foreign Affairs won't sign off.

Okay.

What about relocating the
bereaved out of the war zone?

How do we justify
preferential treatment

when thousands of civilians
have already perished?

It's not preferential treatment.
It's a mission of mercy.

Driven by American guilt
over the use of a cluster bomb

we didn't even manufacture,
meaning it's back

to the drawing board. Back
to the drawing board.

This is your carrel.

It's got a nameplate.
It says "Maggie Brixton."

You got me a desk?

Yes. And the administration has
received assurances that you can

do as much reading and writing
here as you want, undisturbed.

And you think this trivial
gesture will buy my silence?

There's...

there's no quid pro quo here.

You bet there's not.

Because I am
only getting started.

The Dalton administration
will not silence me.

Yeah, one sign a day,

that's too much for you?
How about ten? Stevie...

You will be held to account

for every transgression.

Every moral failing, every act
of greed, because this...

Stevie, now. Just wait. Wait.

T-this...

this is, t-the type
of control mechanism

that every government,

every despot...

Okay. We can go now.

You okay?

Yeah, I'm just t-trying to wrap
my head around normalizing

an acceptable level
of dead children.

Well, you're no stranger
to collateral damage.

You were a fighter pilot.

Yes, and I knew that innocents

would inevitably
be caught in the crossfire...

That's something
I'm still trying to reconcile...

But it's one thing
to follow orders,

it's another to sanction weapons
that you know

will result in the death
of civilians.

Cluster bombs
indiscriminately kill people.

That's kind of what
they're all about.

Which is why we need diplomacy.

Yeah, well, diplomacy's
not working right now.

Syria's about to open up
a front against Israel

and Iran is stepping up arms
shipments to Hezbollah

and it's just...

Sorry. W-Where are you with Russia?

A whole bunch of nyet.

I'm meeting with
the president, joint chiefs

first thing in
the morning, but...

You have got to be kidding me.

What? Our electric bill.

It's, like, 800
last month to 2,000?

Jason? Jason?

Come here.

Hi.

See, this is why we should
all be using solar power.

Yes, well, until
that time, your little

cryptocurrency escapade is gonna
drive us into bankruptcy.

Meaning that you're gonna pay us
the difference between this

and last month's bill.

Fine.

I will wire you the equivalent
in SpectroCoin.

No, no. Uhp. No, no.

Cash on the barrel.

How about you cover
the power bill,

and I will cut you in
on my profits?

And you can think of that

as an investment.

We've already invested
in you for 17 years, sport.

And it's about to pay off.
SpectroCoin is up 300%

this week alone. That's great.

Then you can sell some of your
booty and fork over the dough.

This is not how the Zuckerbergs
supported their kid.

Ay...

l, hi.

Russia is sending

their Northern Fleet to Latakia,

Syria's most important harbor.

What?

It's one big setup.

The cluster bomb,
Moscow's response

to Syria's destruction
of their plane...

It's all to create leverage.

They want a Mediterranean port.

Yeah, and the president's not

gonna allow that,
no er what.

I'm on my way.

How bad?

Don't wait on me for breakfast.

It's an armada. Yes, sir.

And once their Northern
Fleet is in position,

we won't be able to dislodge it
without a war.

Bess, what do we hear
from your counterpart?

Avdonin insists

that an increased
naval presence is necessary

to counter American
and Israeli aggressions.

It's a pretext.

Russia has a small naval
facility in Tartus

that whet their appetite
for regional domination.

And this fleet
will give it to them. Yes, sir.

And if we don't push Russia
back now, they will have a port

that puts them a stone's throw
from vital NATO bases in Turkey.

I recommend that we send

a fleet to intercept
Russia's advance.

Which will put us on the verge
of direct military conflict.

Only if Russia doesn't blink.
We have to hope they do.

Gordon's right.
We have very little choice here.

How far out
is the Northern Fleet?

About 26 hours.
Our Eighth Fleet needs

about eight hours' advance
notice to intercept them.

We've got 18 hours
to get Russia to stand down.

Have you informed the president

about Dynametrics's
negligence in this?

Not yet. But you should
include it in your report.

A report that you're going
to deliver to the president,

who needs to know
his friend was at fault.

He will be so apprised.

Correct, because I'm gonna
tell him myself.

Respectfully, ,
that's not SOP.

Yeah, let's talk about SOP,
because you've been speeding

the plough on my work
since the beginning.

Weighing in on the importance
of not embarrassing

the administration, tacitly
backing military prerogatives

over ethical ones.

You're not suggesting I wouldn't
provide the president

an accurate summary
of your conclusions?

It's not just what you say,

it's how you say it.

Tone is substantive.

Which is why I can't allow you
to mediate my advice,

whitewash things.

I know you think I'm working
against you, , but I'm not.

I'm working for the president.

And it's my job to protect him

and the administration.

And it's my job not to care
about your job.

You can't varnish
my advice, l.

Not if I'm gonna
keep working here.

I'll set up a one-on-one.

Thank you.

Thank you both for coming
on such short notice.

You can dispense with
the courtesy, Madam Secretary.

It was less an invitation
than a summons.

Well, that's fine.
Neither of you need to talk.

Effective immediately,
the Israeli government

will cease all sorties
into Syrian airspace.

You must be joking.

And Syria will freeze
all Iranian arms shipments

through its territory.

Iran is an ally.
Syria will do no such thing.

You will do it, Adnan,
or I will instigate

an emergency session
of the U.N. Security Council,

and present evidence
of Syria's collusion

with Russia to murder children
for political gain.

Your regime will have to answer

to its own people
for the slaughter.

You wouldn't dare.

At that same
U.N. Security Council session,

I will also present evidence
that Israel

had a direct involvement
in the destruction

of a Russian jet,

and without plausible
deniability, you'll have to face.

Moscow's wrath. You must be mad.

More like furious.

Furious enough to throw you
both to the wolves

by publicly exposing you.

But there are bigger
imperatives as stake,

so the both of you
are going to stand down

for the next 24 hours,
which I hope

is enough time to avert
a war with Russia, a war

the actions of your countries
put us on the brink of.

Yes. Yes.

That'll be all.

Nina.

Yes. Get me .

I need to talk to him before
he talks to the president.

Right away, Madam Secretary.

You're recommending
we sign on to

the ban on
cluster bombs. Yeah, over the objection

of Secretary Becker
and Hill.

Strenuous objection, I see.

Conrad, it comes down to this.

How can we claim
moral leadership

w-when we employ a weapon
that the rest of civilization

has deemed too barbaric to use?

The benefits of having this...
tool in our arsenal

are too small to offset
the risk of misuse

and collateral damage,
the death of almost 30 children

being a prime example.

A powerful moral argument.

But , when I asked
you to take this on,

I didn't realize the scope

of Russia's involvement
in this mess.

As long as Moscow has the bomb,

they have a strategic advantage.

Particularly if they're
willing to use it.

And given current events,

I won't cede an inch to them.
I understand.

But what if Moscow was willing
to sign on to the ban?

And how precisely are we
going to get them to do that?

has a plan.

Which she's willing
to explore...

with your permission.

Well, if Russia signs on,
I will too.

I'll tell her.

Thanks, .

And there is something else.

It has to do with my role here.

I sometimes feel...

pressured to rubberstamp
policies

the administration
is inclined to pursue.

you're an academic trapped
in a political world.

I never said your job
was going to be easy.

But I have to be able to push
back when my mandate

is being compromised. And I expect
nothing less.

Giving it to me straight
is what I hired you to do.Good.

Because we need
to talk about Leland Grafton.

Well, his company's
security lapses are...

reckless.

And troubling.

But they're not criminal.

No, sir.

But I don't think someone
who avails himself

of every conceivable loophole

should be awarded
government contracts.

You know I can't interfere
in the bidding process.

No, but what you can do
is tell your old friend

that it's time
for him to step down.

Moral suasion.

There's no one in the world
who's in a better position

to exert it than you.

My friend, we have had
a difficult year together.

So let's talk
common ground, then.

Because in the past year,
we've also found that.

Nuclear de-escalation.

No one ever thought
it could be done.

But we agreed to take our

intercontinental
ballistic missiles off

the hair-trigger alert system.

And the world is safer. It is.

And yet here we are, .

Hours away from a showdown
between our two fleets.

And if somebody
fires a shot, if...

intentions
are slightly misread...

What do you propose?

That we set an example
for our proxies.

Instead of them provoking us,
we provoke them.

You want us to join
you in signing on

to the cluster bomb ban?

A public display of cooperation.

A gesture that sets the stage

for us to jointly
pull back our fleets.

That's the first domino.

What's the second?

Moscow uses its influence
to roll back.

Iran's footprint in Syria.

And what about your proxy?

No, Israel will stay out
of Syria.

And then Russia and the U.S.
will hold talks

about limiting our involvement
in the Syrian civil war.

And if we refuse these terms?

Then even if we dodge
this bullet,

it's a temporary reprieve.

We have this illusion

that our proxies are...

our buffers.

We can offload our conflicts.

But we are our proxies.

We hold each other
accountable for what they do.

Meaning, if we don't
reign them in,

our client states will
ultimately drag us into war.

And we can stop that
from happening

by setting an example,

taking cluster bombs
off the table...

reducing our involvement
in Syria.

So...

if the principals behave...

the proxies will follow.Yes.

We have to lead here,
.

Together.

There is no other choice.

Educational grants
for Syrian refugees

and the names of each
of the dead children.

. I know... no
admissions of guilt.

So we can de-link the grants
from policy issues.

You're trying to ease
suffering with grand gestures,

which is statecraft.Exactly.

Yeah, but this is different.

This is soulcraft.

And soulcraft...

you can't assuage a loss
by giving someone something.

You can only do it by preventing
something from being taken away.

I'm sorry, I don't follow. It's okay.

Come on, let's go.
I'll explain on the way.

Hi. Thank you so much
for talking to us again. Hi.

What is it you want?

We have searched in vain
for ways to compensate you

for the death of your sons.

We realize the futility
of our efforts.

Um, nothing we say or do can...
can ease your pain.

But m-maybe there's
something else we can do.

In your son's memory.

In memory of all your boys.

This is a letter
of intent signed by

both the U.S. and Russia
in which both countries

agree to join the ban
on cluster bombs.

So no more cluster bombs?

No, ma'am.

And the children who live
because of this ban will have

your children to thank.

Thank you.

Global warming.

The destruction
of the rain forest.

President Dalton
is condemning us all. MAN Yeah!

I'm being punked, right?

I tried, sir. I swear.

What about her carrel?

Maggie loves it; She's using it

to do research for her protests.

Knock, knock.

Oat milk latte.

Extra hot.

Consider this a peace offering.

You can't buy my silence.

I'm going to speak
truth to power.

And now that power
is finally listening,

I am just getting started.Look.

Bringing you to heel,
that's not why I'm here.

I mean, candidly,
that's why I came,

but on the way over...

I got to thinking. Thinking?

That's a new trick
for folks in your building.

How long have you been here now?

18 years.

Well, I've been here six.

Which makes me the new guy.

And where I come from,

you introduce yourself
to your neighbors.

I'm l.

Is that all, l?

Look.

I just wanted to say...

democracy's messy.

But rule one is every
voice should be heard.

And yours has been
on the front lines

for a very long time.

And I wanted to thank you
for playing your part

in this... this pageant

we call the American experiment.

Because you er.

Truly.

If there's ever anything
I can do for you...

Thank you.

Excuse me, I have to
finish this sign

before the tour buses come.

Been ages since
we've been on a proper date.

Well, let's calendar one.

In between international crises,
commissions, all-nighters.

God, it turns me on
when you talk shop.

I'm broke.

What?

SpectroCoin went down to zero.

There was a, massive sell-off

as soon as
the Syrian crisis died down.

Well, gee,

if I'd known I was
hurting your bottom line,

I would have
reevaluated my position

on preventing World War Three.
Yeah.

I'm done speculating.

Allow me to speculate.

Someone still owes us $1,200,
and if he doesn't

find a way to pay us back...
I already have.

I got a job as a busboy
at Frankie's, so...

Steady income
and all the pizza I can eat.

Good. We'll put you
on a payment plan.

I trust you've learned
a valuable lesson

about shortcuts, right? Yes.

Always take the ones

that don't depend on
your mom playing ball.

Hey. I'm kidding.

I'm rolling OG now,
so brick and mortar.

All the way.Good.

Then, grab a sponge

and come over here,
we'll train you up

for your next gig, there, Snoop.Yeah.

You know, there is
this one currency.

It's called AnarCoin.
Kind of a sure bet.

I mean, I could get us in
on the ground floor if you...

Hey, where's the soap?

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