Jed starts his call with Chigorin by apologizing for his earlier abruptness. Chigorin's heard the news of the shooting already. Jed tells him it's no big deal; Chigorin's glad no one was hurt. Jed tosses in the fact that when they crash the White House, the Sit Room still works. Leo gives him a "what the hell, man?" look. Jed launches into the tale of the plane crash and the coastal erosion cover story. He says the Finns know about it. He wants to send a special operations team in to get it. Chigorin says he campaigned on the environment. He adds that he'll take a look at those pictures and send them to Bartlet with his UAV. Bartlet tells him about the self-detonating thing and that their people know how to disarm it, and that he wouldn't want to risk Chigorin's people. Chigorin suggests that U.S. experts talk Russian experts through the steps. You know, that doesn't even work very well when your cousin Herkimer calls you up to get your help in installing Office 2003 over the phone; I'm not sure I'd want to be the person on a cell phone out in the Baltic somewhere, disarming a self-detonating device. Jed tells Chigorin it's proprietary technology. Chigorin rightly wonders why that would be necessary to take pictures of coastal erosion. He decides to end the call so that he can talk to his counterintelligence attaché. Jed, Leo, and the translator hang up. Jed waves his hand and says, "This isn't working anymore."

Another poker game. C.J. emits a lot of poker jargon. Larry says she's pretty upbeat for somebody who's been shot at twice in four years. I'd say she's even more upbeat for someone who's only had sex once in even longer. C.J. says it's because she's got faith: "The substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen." That's from Hebrews 11:1. Toby says, "I think what he's asking is why, on most other nights, do you think the world's going to hell in a hula hoop, but tonight..." C.J.: "We dip twice and eat gefilte fish?" Or Krupin's pastrami, at least, sliced paper-thin. Toby warns C.J. with a slight smile: "Suzy Creamcheese, do not attempt the Haggadah." C.J.: "I know how to bless the soup, too." She raises somebody's raise, or something. Everybody's out except Toby and C.J. Toby asks, "Faith in what?" C.J., without hesitation: "In us." Toby: "The people in this room?" She adds, "And many, many, many others." Allison Janney looks so gorgeous in this episode. I honestly don't understand a world that prefers the likes of a J.Lo, who, in the "horrible but expressive slang phrase, keeps all her goods in the shop window," to the stunning elegance of Ms. Janney. Larry asks Will if he's missing his plane; it's not due to leave until 12:30 AM. Toby asks what's in Cheyenne. Besides this, I guess? Will explains that a number of them are being sent there to investigate a situation where two guys failed to follow through on an order to fire their rockets at what was believed to be an incoming North Korean ballistic missile. It turned out to have been a good thing, since it was a meteor and not a missile. Everybody chuckles. Toby asks what happened. Will explains how the speed, arc, and trajectory of the incoming projectile suggested it was headed from North Korea to New London, Connecticut. Will says that surprise was expressed at this possibility, but that the base was already at DEFCON Delta. DEFCON Delta? Aren't the DEFCON levels numbered? Frink assures me they are numbered 1-5. THREATCON, for Terrorist Threat Condition, uses the phonetic alphabet (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta). Also, back in mid-2001, THREATCON was apparently supplanted by Terrorist Force Protection CONdition (FPCON). It also goes from Normal to Delta. The classifications and measures are effectively the same. So it probably should be FPCON. There's no such thing as DEFCON Delta or THREATCON 2, but there could certainly be an FPCON Delta. (Don't ask me about the red/yellow/orange stuff of recent months.)