He took away the country's top AAA rating in 2011. He ended up fearing for his life

John B. Chambers is the former deputy head of the Sovereign Debt Ratings Group and former chairman of the Sovereign Debt Committee at Standard and Poor's. The ratings agency in 2011 made a major decision to strip away the country's AAA rating. (Keren Carrión/NPR)

More than a decade ago, John B. Chambers and his colleagues at Standard & Poor's made a momentous decision: They were going to strip the United States of its cherished AAA credit rating.

Going into it, Chambers, who led the powerful committee at S&P that rates the creditworthiness of more than 100 countries, knew it would be a huge deal.