A flesh-eating parasite once thought eradicated from the United States is creeping north again, testing what happens when a nation obsessed with efficiency cuts too deep. At a cattle ranch outside Laredo, the smell of antiseptic mixes with dust and diesel as a veterinarian leans over the open wound of a cow, searching for signs of something America swore it had killed off decades ago: the flesh-eating screwworm. The larvae of this fly can strip a healthy animal to bone in day

The Pentagon briefing room remains untouched since the Bush years: deep navy curtains, a crisp American flag displayed next to the eagle-and-shield emblem of the Department of Defense, and long rows of recessed fluorescent lighting, brutally bright by design (tuned for cameras, not comfort). In 2003, NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski stood under those same lights and pressed Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on his shifting claims of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, asking on camera