Serbian dictator was at first defiant. “Milošević didn’t back down as many of his [Clinton’s] advisers told him they thought he would,” recalls John Podesta, the White House staff secretary. “And I remember distinctly his key security advisers were nervous: Will this work? Did we do it right? Will it succeed? The president was the calmest person in the group. The decision was on him. He knew that if it was wrong, he’d bear the burden, but he was confident that he had made the right decision.”
