Miles Hutchinson
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| Miles Hutchinson | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | Pilot |
| Last appearance | Transition |
| Created by | Aaron Sorkin |
| Portrayed by | Steve Ryan |
| Information | |
| Occupation | Secretary of Defense (Seasons 1-7) |
Miles Hutchinson is a fictional character on the NBC television series The West Wing played by the late actor Steve Ryan. Hutchinson has served as the Secretary of Defense to President Josiah Bartlet throughout his two terms in office.
Hutchinson was first mentioned in the Season One episode "Pilot", and continued as an unseen character for the next three seasons. He was frequently mentioned alongside Lewis Berryhill, the similarly offscreen Secretary of State.
In the Season Two episode "Two Cathedrals", he was mentioned as being a possible Presidential candidate, presuming that Bartlet chose not to run for re-election, which seemed likely at that moment.
He advised the President on the hostage situation in Haiti, although he was clearly never as influential as Admiral Percy Fitzwallace or National Security Advisor Dr. Nancy McNally. However, he has always been more influential than Berryhill.
Hutchinson made his first onscreen appearance in the Season Four episode "Inauguration Part I", where he clashed with the President. He was said to disrespect Bartlet for never having served in the military.
Following the retirement of Admiral Fitzwallace, and the increased absence of Dr. McNally, Hutchinson's relative influence in the Situation Room increased dramatically, and he advised President Bartlet on various crises in Saudi Arabia, Israel, Bolivia, and Iran.
Hutchinson has more than once come into conflict with rookie Chief of Staff C.J. Cregg over, for example, the handling a crisis involving stolen Georgian nuclear material, and whether to use a secret space shuttle to rescue astronauts from the damaged International Space Station. Former Chief of Staff Leo McGarry and Hutchinson also clashed during McGarry's tenure on more than one occasion. One notable case is over the potential deployment of troops to Equatorial Kundu, where the President sought a force depletion report from Nancy McNally's military aide, rather than Hutchinson, because Hutchinson opposed a Kundu intervention and would have likely leaked an exaggerated report to further his own agenda. It has also been said that Hutchinson and Fitzwallace had a strained relationship, both seeking a substantial amount of influence with the President and control over military matters.
