"Shifting Sands" is an episode of JAG that first aired on October 3, 2003. Directed by Jeannot Szwarc. Written by Dana Coen.
Mr. Harmon Rabb shows up at JAG headquarters and is shocked to learn that Admiral Chegwidden sped his letter of resignation along and that he's now fully a civilian. Petty Officer Tiner (Chuck Carrington) has been accepted to Officer Candidate School (OCS).
Cleaning out his office, Harm gives one of his covers (hat) to Tiner, for when the future officer makes commander. Chegwidden orders Commander Turner (Scott Lawrence) to take the office Harm has just vacated.
Harm and Mac visit Agent Webb (Steven Culp) in the hospital. Webb is looking much better after his ordeal in Paraguay, but he can't return to duty just yet.
Lt. Roberts investigates Hospital Corpsman Third Class Allison La Porte (Kim Myers), who's been MIA in Iraq since 1991. She had deployed during the Gulf War and didn't come back when the war ended.
La Porte married Jamal bin Fahad al-Hadi (Navid Negahban), a Bedouin tribal leader, and came up with the idea of using Syrian equipment to spy on American troops (though neither Chegwidden nor Roberts know about this at this point).
La Porte was caught trying to steal medicine from a Navy field hospital. Brought back to the United States, she faces a charge of desertion under Article 85 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).
Roberts is assigned to prosecute Corpsman La Porte and Lt. Colonel Sarah MacKenzie is assigned to defend at an Article 32 hearing to determine if there is cause for a court-martial. Mac's defense strategy is to show that Corpsman La Porte joined the Bedouin tribe as a matter of survival, rather than because she wanted to desert.
It's clear to Mac that La Porte thoroughly identifies as a Bedouin now and intends to return to the tribe if acquitted. But she probably won't get an acquittal if she doesn't render officers the proper military courtesies.
The matter is further complicated by the fact that she's the daughter of Admiral Richard La Porte (Denis Arndt), who is estranged from his daughter. Admiral La Porte seems to be hoping his daughter will be found guilty and imprisoned somewhere he can visit her.
Through Webb, Mac learns that Corpsman La Porte may have spied on American troops. This would open her up to a charge of aiding the enemy under Article 104 of the UCMJ. If Corpsman La Porte is found guilty of a charge akin to treason, she could get the death penalty.
Mac unwittingly leaks this information to Roberts, who promptly adds the Article 104 charge even though he understands that Mac did not intend to give him that information. Admiral La Porte is furious, and yells at Chegwidden and Mac. Admiral La Porte is called to testify for the prosecution.
On the stand, Admiral La Porte admits that it never occurred to him that his own daughter, the only one in the Bedouin tribe who speaks English, would listen in on American communications and relay the information to Saddam Hussein's tyrannical regime.
In a conference room with her father and with Mac, Corpsman La Porte explains that Saddam Hussein had tried to cut off the Bedouins from their water supplies with river dams. In exchange for intelligence about American activities in the Gulf, the dictator agreed to remove the dams.
But the water had become so brackish while dammed up that it made the Bedouins sick. That was why she stole antibiotics from the corpsmen. Otherwise she might have lived another dozen years with the Bedouins.
The result of the Article 32 hearing is that La Porte's case is referred to general court-martial. She will most likely be found guilty of desertion and aiding the enemy, and will probably have to agree to life in prison if she doesn't want to be executed.
Harm gets a job as a pilot for the CIA, thanks to his pretend wife Catherine Gale (Laura Putney), who vouches for him to Deputy Director Kershaw (Jameson Parker).
Tropes
- Continuity Nod to "People v. Rabb", in which Mac was allowed to return to duty as if she had never resigned.
- Falling-in-Love Montage: For Allison La Porte and Jamal Bin Fahad Al-Hadi as she recounts to Mac how she went MIA.
- Rank Up for Petty Officer Tiner, implied: Tiner has been accepted to Officer Candidate School. If he completes the course and is selected, he will be commissioned as an ensign (though it's also possible he falls a little short and is not selected, in which case he would presumably serve out the rest of his enlistment contract as a petty officer).
- Shout-Out to Backgammon: Allison La Porte and fell in love with Jamal bin Fahad al-Hadi while playing backgammon.
- Truth in Television: Legal dramas often get legal details wrong and JAG is no exception. However, this show does often get legal details right and there are two instances in this episode which are worth highlighting.
- The word "treason" is definitely mentioned outside the courtroom, but seems to never come up in the hearing. The U. S. Constitution sets a very high standard of proof for treason, so a good prosecutor would not bring it up if he didn't think he could prove it. The standard of proof for Article 104, aiding the enemy, is also high, but not as high as for treason.
- Also, the number 104 of the UCMJ article for aiding the enemy was correct when this episode first aired. It was changed to 103b in 2019. The more "famous" articles of the UCMJ, like catch-all Article 134, stayed put.
- Unprocessed Resignation:
- Averted for Mr. Harmon Rabb, who was expecting Chegwidden to not process his resignation, just like he ignored then-Major MacKenzie's resignation back in Season 3. This time, Chegwidden processed the resignation promptly, and informs Harm that he's been a civilian for the past three days.
- Lampshaded by Mac when she brings up her own resignation from Season 3.
