Donald McClintock

"2600 dead or dying Americans. If that bug gets out of there, Billy, 260 million Americans'll be dead or dying! Those people are casualties of war, Billy! I would give 'em all a medal if I could, but they are casualties of war!"

- McClintock to Brigadier General Ford.

Major General Donald "Donnie" McClintock is the main antagonist of the 1995 disaster film Outbreak. He is a corrupt U.S. Army general who works for the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID.)

He was portrayed by veteran actor Donald Sutherland.

Biography
n July of 1967, In Motaba River Valley, Zaire, a virus with a 100% mortality rate starts infecting people. The virus becomes known as the Motaba virus, and it's so deadly that it causes severe bleeding and liquefies internal organs, killing within 3 days. The virus wipes out Motaba River Valley, and a devastatingly huge fire bomb is dropped onto Motaba River Valley in order to reduce the chances of further infection. The bomb was dropped on the orders of corrupt McClintock, even though an army surgeon, Brigadier General Billy Ford, was against the idea.

27 years later, in 1994, there is another outbreak in Motaba River Valley. At the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), located at Fort Detrick in Maryland, Colonel Sam Daniels is doing research on the Motaba virus, and so is his ex-wife Roberta Keough, who works at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia.

A monkey carrying the Motaba virus stows away on a ship that is heading for the USA, and after the monkey's arrival, people in Cedar Creek, California start becoming infected by the virus. Sam and Roberta head into Cedar Creek with fellow doctor Casey Schuler, and they start searching for the monkey, thinking that the monkey is the key to finding a cure. Along the way, Sam stumbles onto some information that may be of help -- McClintock has been concealing vital information from the president of the United States.

Since 1967, McClintock and Ford have been in possession of E-1101, a serum that was made to cure the virus. McClintock has been trying to stop Ford from coming forward with this information, and so far, McClintock has succeeded. McClintock now wants to drop onto Cedar Creek the kind of firebomb that was dropped on Motaba River Valley 27 years ago. Sam and Roberta figure out that the virus in the Cedar Creek outbreak is a new strain of the Motaba virus -- an airborne strain that is even more contagious than the flu. When a new serum is made to stop the new strain, Sam and Roberta set out to stop McClintock from having the town blown up.

The bombing plan, codenamed "Operation Cleansweep", has been greenlighted by the President, and McClintock plans to use the bombing to cover up the virus's existence to advance his bioweapon project. To prevent Daniels from finding a cure, McClintock has him arrested by implicating Daniels as a carrier of the virus. This leads Daniels and Major Salt to search for the host animal to save the town. Flying a helicopter to the ship that carried the host animal, Daniels obtains a picture of the monkey, called Betsy, and broadcasts it on the news, which Mrs. Jeffries realizes her daughter Kate is playing with in their backyard. She calls the station, and the two men arrive at the family's house. Kate coaxes out Betsy, which Salt tranquilizes. Learning from Daniels that the host animal is captured, Ford delays the bombing.

Flying back, Daniels and Salt are confronted by McClintock, who also came by helicopter. Daniels has Salt fire two rockets into the trees to trick McClintock into thinking they crashed. Returning to Cedar Creek, Salt mixes Betsy's antibodies with the E-1101 to create an anti-serum in time to save Robby but not Casey who has already succumbed to the virus. Daniels discovers Operation Cleansweep is in progress and becomes aware that McClintock will not call off the bombing. He and Salt take it upon themselves to fly in the way of the bomber, commanded by Sandman One, to stop it. With support from Ford, Daniels is able to stay in the way of the plane long enough to convince Sandman One and his co-pilot that information was withheld from them. Sandman One detonates the bomb over water instead of the town. Ford, having had enough of McClintock's single-minded obsession, relieves McClintock of command and places him under arrest for withholding information from the President. Sam and Robby make up, and the remaining residents of the town are successfully cured.