But it is certainly not the case that assignment of security personnel at diplomatic facilities is made here at the White House, nor should it be.

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Since 2001, CIA case officers have routinely been sent to war zones as their first operational assignment.

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Instead, when working alone you can treat the assignment as a theoretical exercise, like a B-school case study to turn in to the professor.

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This is the case of Zhou Xunshu, a 35-year-old pro golfer Washburn befriended during his first China Tour assignment, who grew up in a mountain village in the country's impoverished southwest.

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