Deck 18: Foreign Policy in the National Security State

Question 1

What role does the Central Intelligence Agency play?

Answer 1

Students' answers may vary.
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the chief government intelligence-gathering agency, has two primary functions: espionage and covert action.

Question 2

What is the national security state?

Answer 2

Students' answers may vary.
The national security state is a complex of executive, military, and secret powers that shaped American international relations in the Cold War and largely excluded Congress and the public from decisions about the country's security.

Question 3

Explain the importance of the military-industrial complex.

Answer 3

Students' answers may vary.
Cold War expansion of the military was furthered by the growth of the military-industrial complex .Coined by President Eisenhower, the term refers to the potentially dangerous influence of the political alliance between the Pentagon and the corporations that manufacture its arms.Expensive new weapons systems are mutually rewarding to the armed forces and to companies, especially in such fields as aircraft, electronics, and shipbuilding, for which defense contracts can bring in billions of dollars a year in guaranteed sales.Defense contractors thus place their financial muscle and lobbying resources behind Pentagon budget requests.

Question 4

Define a preventive war.

Question 5

Imagine you have been asked by the president to come up with a list of suggestions concerning the future of American foreign and defense policy.Make a case for what should happen in three of the following issue areas: overall foreign policy objectives; the Pentagon; the intelligence community; and economic security.

Question 6

Explain the difference between multilateralism and unilateralism.

Question 7

What is the theory of expansion?

Question 8

Explain the importance of the Cold War.

Question 9

Explain the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Question 10

Conventional wisdom says political elites and experts should handle foreign policy, as it is far too important to allow the public to influence.What, if anything, is wrong with this formulation?

Question 11

What role does the Department of Defense play?

Question 12

Compare and contrast Obama's approach to foreign policy with Bush's approach.Make sure to explain the overarching theories that inform both administrations.

Question 13

What is isolationism?

Question 14

What is covert action?

Question 15

Identify the major institutions and actors of the national security state.Describe their functions and influence during the War on Terror.

Question 16

What is the theory of containment?

Question 17

What role does the Department of State play?

Question 18

What role does the National Security Council (NSC)play?

Question 19

Who are the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS)?

Question 20

How important is the national security adviser?

Question 21

Since the end of the Cold War

A)the growth of the military-industrial complex has continued unabated.
B)the Pentagon has often been reluctant to use military force in small-scale ventures.
C)the Pentagon continues to press for high-tech weaponry to replace existing weapons.
D)any use of U.S.military force requires a formal declaration of war by Congress.

Question 22

Popular democrats consider which of the following to be one of the major costs of the Cold War?

A)An overemphasis on issues of economic growth and social progress
B)Too much congressional oversight of the intelligence community
C)The debilitating effects of the Vietnam syndrome
D)A constitutional imbalance of power between the president and Congress

Question 23

The president's national security adviser

A)has continued to overshadow the secretary of state.
B)first became prominent during the Reagan administration.
C)has become more a coordinator and facilitator in recent administrations.
D)is part of the Department of State.

Question 24

Which of the following institutions has had a rebound given the war on terror?

A)White House staff
B)Department of State
C)National Security Council
D)Department of Defense

Question 25

The Anti-federalists were uneasy about the idea of a military establishment because

A)it might encourage dangerous military adventurism abroad.
B)Congress would be tempted by it to establish a dictatorship.
C)nations they wanted to emulate, like France, did not possess standing armies.
D)it would always pose a threat to the president.

Question 26

One of the biggest threats to American democratic values has been

A)covert operations on the part of the CIA.
B)restrictive congressional oversight of the intelligence agencies.
C)checks on the president's freedom to conduct needed secret foreign policy.
D)popular democratic protests that have undermined America's credibility in the world.

Question 27

In the original democratic debate over foreign policy

A)elite democrats downplayed the importance of expertise and experience.
B)popular democrats had little fear of a standing army.
C)popular democrats associated citizen militia with Republican values.
D)both elite and popular democrats recognized that the president must dominate foreign policy.

Question 28

The practice of ______ was a defining part of the Truman Doctrine, which guided foreign policy throughout the Cold War.

A)noninterventionism
B)covert operations
C)containment
D)peaceful coexistence

Question 29

American expansionism included an Indian removal program advocated by which president?

A)Andrew Jackson
B)Theodore Roosevelt
C)Warren Harding
D)George W.Bush

Question 30

The American tradition of civilian control of the military is expressed in

A)the process of inter-service rivalry.
B)the Pentagon's ties to military contractors.
C)civilian leadership of the Defense Department and individual services.
D)rotation of membership on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Question 31

The Anti-federalists views on foreign policy

A)may be considered out-of-date today given the U.S.position in the world.
B)included using diplomacy and peacemaking as a primary tool.
C)point to a conversation we should be having today about the role of foreign policy in democracy.
D)All of the above are correct.

Question 32

To popular democrats the Vietnam War was

A)the last time popular democratic opposition had any real influence on foreign policy.
B)a tragic, but not unexpected, outcome of American foreign policy.
C)a small price to pay to shatter the Cold War consensus.
D)a terrible but necessary cost of our containment policy.

Question 33

Which federal department saw its influence increase at the end of the Cold War?

A)Treasury
B)State
C)Defense
D)Commerce

Question 34

According to the text, the "Cold War consensus" of anticommunism

A)was developed by popular democrats.
B)continued in full force until 1989.
C)cracked during the Vietnam War.
D)had basically dissolved by the time of the Korean War.

Question 35

How would you characterize American foreign policy during the nineteenth century?

A)Demonstrating constant involvement in European affairs
B)Simultaneously expansionist and isolationist
C)Neither expansionist nor isolationist
D)Definitely isolationist but rarely expansionist

Question 36

Which of the following said that "decision, activity, secrecy, and dispatch" were vital qualities found only in the executive branch?

A)George Washington
B)Alexander Hamilton
C)James Madison
D)Thomas Jefferson

Question 37

What was the principal purpose of NATO?

A)To rebuild national economies devastated during World War II
B)To protect American interests in places like the Middle East
C)To act as a kind of global policeman
D)To protect Western Europe from Soviet aggression

Question 38

The Cold War

A)had little effect on America's beliefs about its role in the world.
B)was a temporary aberration from traditional American foreign policy.
C)was a triumph for the forces of popular democracy.
D)led to the development of the national security state.

Question 39

The elite democratic argument for the Cold War holds that a large national security apparatus

A)was necessary to open up new markets and resources for American businesses.
B)was a means to prevent the reemergence of a powerful Germany.
C)was not designed to promote American hegemony but to preserve world peace.
D)was strictly in accord with democratic political values.

Question 40

American foreign and defense policy making was radically transformed

A)by our entry into the Great War (World War I).
B)with the advent of the Cold War.
C)by the expansionism of the nineteenth century.
D)when the United States became the world's foremost economic power.

Question 41

Cold War policy in Chile and Iran tells us that

A)American security interests were served by supporting admittedly repressive regimes.
B)effective foreign policy can best be made when it is shielded from public scrutiny.
C)American foreign policy and economic interests are often intertwined.
D)popular democratic fears of an imperial presidency are actually groundless.

Question 42

During the Clinton administration, U.S.trade policy

A)focused on the promotion of free trade.
B)was used as a lever to advance human rights abroad.
C)was subordinated to domestic economic concerns.
D)was presented mainly as a way to accelerate corporate profits.

Question 43

President Bush has pursued a policy of _____ since the beginning of his presidency.

A)multilateralism
B)unilateralism
C)isolationism
D)expansionism

Question 44

______ was the centerpiece of the Bush administration's national security doctrine.

A)Containment
B)Deterrence
C)Preventive war
D)Isolationism

Question 45

Current research on public opinion about foreign policy indicates that

A)ordinary citizens have almost no influence on policy.
B)the Gulf War put an end to the Vietnam syndrome.
C)public attitudes are stable and realistic.
D)the public does have an impact on specific policy decisions.

Question 46

The most important private influence on American foreign policy is

A)corporations.
B)labor unions.
C)farm groups.
D)citizen action groups.