A groundbreaking March 2017 report from Slate revealed that newly released emails showed officials at the highest levels of the U.S. government were aware almost immediately that U.N. forces likely played a role in a cholera outbreak which may have killed tens of thousands. Multiple federal agencies, from national security officials to scientists on the front lines, shielded the United Nations from accountability to protect the organization and themselves. Obama’s U.N. ambassadors, Susan Rice and Samantha Power dodged the issue as the administration danced between often contradictory goals of protecting human rights, asserting American dominance, and defending an institution central to its multilateral diplomacy.