The White House pushed back Sunday against Republican criticism of its approach to terrorism, calling it “not anchored in reality” as a national security debate that was largely muted in recent years roared back to center stage with an angry intensity.

A real inspector would have focused on the powdered substance hiding in my bra, the box cutter tucked into my tights and the plastic-explosive material snuggling inside my dress pocket. But because I was too close to the subject under scrutiny, I fixated on the position of my bellybutton: How strange that it sits so high up on my torso.