“Though I deeply regret failing to recognize an emotional threat developing inside my own home.”

He considered that for a moment, then gestured for me to sit.

“Command responsibility includes taking immediate action to correct conditions once reliable intelligence appears,” he said.

“It does not require you to have possessed information that was deliberately hidden from you.” That distinction lightened my guilt, a little, though the ultimate responsibility still rested where it belonged — with me.

But the general had named something true and useful, something I have held onto since: that there is a difference between failing to act on information you had, which is a real failure, and not having information that someone worked hard to conceal from you.