In my writing and activism, I had argued that US officials should respond with a sense of urgency to early-warning signs, and that they should be empowered to alert senior decision-makers to threats of violence. High-level officials should then open their toolbox, scrutinizing whether or not the benefits of employing a particular tool outweighed the costs. People who knew me before I met Obama expected the hardest part of my adjustment to working at the White House would be taming my outspokenness. But when people asked, “Do you miss having your own voice?” I could barely fathom the question.
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