The West Wing
Privateers
Season 4, Episode 18 · Aired 2003-03-26

Synopsis
Toby's old friend approaches him ready to blow the whistle on his employer's violations of environmental laws; staff pranks abound on Amy's first day at the office; Abbey charges Amy with the task of convincing the President to threaten a veto on a foreign aid bill containing an abortion gag rule provision; claiming that Abbey's ancestor was a pirate rather than a privateer, a prominent member threatens to mount a boycott of the D.A.R. dinner at which Zoey will be inducted until Will, C.J. and Amy devise a plan to defuse the situation; at the behest of Jean Paul, Zoey sends Charlie a "Dear John" email, but Charlie refuses to accept the brushoff and declares his love for Zoey; Donna is less than thrilled when Josh assigns her the job of shadowing a possible security risk at Zoey's D.A.R. induction; Will takes one for the team in putting an environmental and political face on the destruction and deaths which resulted from the melting of an Alaskan glacier.
In the series
This episode is part of The West Wing (1999–2006) on NBC.
Walk-and-talk idealism — the White House as workplace epic.
Key cast
- Martin Sheen as President Jed Bartlet
- Allison Janney as C. J. Cregg
- Bradley Whitford as Josh Lyman
- Richard Schiff as Toby Ziegler
- John Spencer as Leo McGarry
- Dulé Hill as Charlie Young