The day of Hickox’s confinement, Susan Rice, who had done a masterful job pushing the administration to be aggressive in our Ebola response, telephoned to urge me to consider calling off my trip. Acknowledging that she was calling more in her capacity as my friend than as National Security Advisor, she urged me to think about my responsibility to my kids. I said I had of course thought about my family, but I was confident in the safety protocols and felt it was essential to show that our collective domestic panic was misplaced. She continued to press me. “Think about it, Sam,” she said. “What
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