I will never forget walking down the street in a hostile country as a CIA operations officer, then looking up and seeing our flag silhouetted above the embassy.

I thought not only of the small number of U.S. officials who were serving in harm’s way, but of the many who lived in that particular country who still looked at America as the land of opportunity. We have political and economic freedoms that they could never enjoy. Despite the problems that America has faced over the last several years, I still believe in American exceptionalism. To my core.