The Times’s Opinion desk has taken the rare step of publishing an anonymous Op-Ed essay. We did so at the request of the author, a senior official in the Trump administration whose identity is known to us and whose job would be jeopardized by its disclosure.

We believe publishing this essay anonymously is the only way to deliver an important perspective to our readers. We invite you to submit a question about the essay or our vetting process. Our Op-Ed editor, J ames Dao, will answer a selection of them.