Plot Summary:Frank officially announced his candidacy for the 2016 election, with a platform of transforming the US from a welfare state to a full employment nation, criticizing Congress for stifling job bills and hindering American progress. This view garnered significant support from the American public, and Frank's approval ratings were neck and neck with Dunbar. As Frank was on a campaign tour in Iowa, striving for a primary victory, he received unexpected news: Russian troops in the Jordan Valley suffered a bomb attack, resulting in eight deaths. However, when the UN sought to investigate, the Russian side cordoned off the area, prohibiting anyone from approaching. This sudden incident could potentially escalate conflict between Israel and Palestine, endangering peacekeeping efforts. Gavin, after seeing Doug unlock his passport, handed over the Rachel information he had already found to Doug. Unexpectedly, Rachel became the victim of a criminal case, and her body was incinerated. Gavin compared fingerprints and confirmed that the body was indeed Rachel's. Although Rachel had long lived under Doug's surveillance, Doug had slowly developed a sense of spiritual companionship with her. Hearing this tragic news, Doug was temporarily unable to accept it. The impact of the Russian military attack slowly began to emerge, with Israel openly blaming Palestine for the attack and dispatching troops to the vicinity of the Jordan Valley. Russian President Petrov finally returned Frank's call but insisted on an independent Russian investigation, refusing intervention from other countries. At this point, Frank had to suspect that Russia was trying to hide some clues, possibly a false flag operation aimed at disrupting peacekeeping efforts. Carlyle tried to gather some information from the Russian Ambassador to the UN, and from his words, it could be inferred that the incident was orchestrated by Russia. Given Russia's past precedents, Carlyle believed his words had higher credibility. However, Frank and the Department of Defense believed that the other party did not explicitly state that it was a Russian plot and could not be used as evidence. To investigate the truth, Frank decided to risk sending special forces, under cover of darkness, into the explosion area to collect soil samples and explosive fragments. House of Cards Season 3 Episode 9 TVmao. Doug came to the Oval Office and handed Rachel's file to Frank. This hidden danger was finally gone, and Doug hoped Frank could forgive his past mistakes for this. Working for Dunbar now was also to find her fatal weakness and prove his capabilities. House of Cards Season 3 Episode 9 TVmao. After Doug left, Frank watched the special forces operation in the situation room. The local informant who was supposed to assist the special forces had been turned by the Russians. American personnel who parachuted into the target location were attacked by unknown armed groups immediately upon landing and had to withdraw. This operation yielded nothing and resulted in one casualty. The Russian side even provided the footage of this engagement to Israel. Israel, a long-standing ally of the United States, was very dissatisfied with the US's secret operation bypassing Israel and decided to move into the Jordan Valley. This immediately put Frank at a disadvantage in his negotiations with Petrov. To cover up this failed operation, Frank could only write in the condolence letter to the families of the fallen personnel that they had unfortunately died during an exercise.