government policymaking. If the White House was going to issue a statement (for example, to condemn a crackdown on protesters in a foreign country), an NSC country specialist would write the first draft. He would then circulate it by email to others on the NSC for edits. Among the recipients would be members of our press team, lawyers, and liaisons to Congress. Every NSC official who was seen to have “equity” in a statement had to be “looped in” so that they could “chop on,” or edit, the words that went out into the world under President Obama’s name. I was stunned by the number of cooks in
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