Deck 3: American Military Strategy in an ERA of Power Diffusion

Question 1

Where did the United States initiate airstrikes in 2014?

A) Iran.
B) Iraq.
C) Yemen.
D) Lebanon.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

What event deterred U.S. officials from intervening in Darfur or Rwanda?

A) The sinking of the USS Cole off Yemen.
B) The losses suffered in the Persian Gulf War of 1990-1991.
C) The deaths of U.S. soldiers in Somalia in 1993.
D) The downing of NATO aircraft in Bosnia in 1994.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Which president claimed his policies were influenced by his religious faith?

A) Jimmy Carter.
B) George H. W. Bush.
C) Bill Clinton.
D) Barack Obama.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

What was America's grand strategy during the entire Cold War?

A) Preemption.
B) Humanitarian intervention.
C) Containment.
D) Massive retaliation.

Question 5

Who was the architect of containment?

A) Harry S. Truman.
B) Chester Bowles.
C) George Kennan.
D) Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.

Question 6

What foreign-policy document did Paul Nitze author?

A) The "Mr. X" article.
B) The Truman doctrine.
C) NSC-68.
D) The Long Telegram.

Question 7

What was the "domino theory"?

A) A theory that ascribed Soviet aggressiveness to Moscow's desire for security.
B) A theory the viewed communism as inherently expansionist.
C) A theory communist China was responsible for the invasion of South Korea in 1950.
D) A theory that if one country fell to communism, its neighbors would soon suffer a similar fate.

Question 8

Where did America's most extensive Cold War military intervention take place?

A) South Korea.
B) Vietnam.
C) Afghanistan.
D) The Dominican Republic.

Question 9

Who was Jacobo Arbenz?

A) A Guatemalan president overthrown by the U.S.
B) A left-wing president of Venezuela.
C) A Panamanian president who was imprisoned in the U.S. for drug smuggling.
D) A long-time military dictator of Argentina.

Question 10

What was the doctrine of "massive retaliation"?

A) A conventional Soviet attack on an American ally might elicit an U.S. nuclear response.
B) An attack on the U.S. homeland would elicit a massive nuclear response.
C) Soviet use of tactical nuclear weapons would trigger rapid escalation to a full scale strategic response.
D) An attack on U.S. interests by communist China would be regarded by the U.S. as a Soviet attack and would trigger retaliation against the USSR.

Question 11

What was the assumption of behind "mutual assured destruction"?

A) In a U.S.-Soviet crisis Washington would have to launch a nuclear strike first to avoid a Soviet second strike.
B) Only mutual vulnerability to nuclear attack could prevent nuclear war.
C) A full-scale nuclear exchange would produce nuclear "winter".
D) The construction of effective U.S. and Soviet anti-missile defenses would allow both to escape destruction in a nuclear war.

Question 12

Which of the following was the first genuine U.S.-Soviet disarmament agreement?

A) the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty.
B) SALT II.
C) The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
D) The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I).

Question 13

What was the first major foreign-policy challenge faced by the U.S. after the Cold War?

A) The Bosnian civil war.
B) The famine and civil war in Somalia.
C) Civil war in Nicaragua and the overthrow of the Sandinistas.
D) Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

Question 14

What was "Operational Desert Storm"?

A) U.S. liberation of Kuwait (1991).
B) U.S. intervention in Kosovo (1999).
C) U.S. intervention in Afghanistan (2001).
D) U.S. invasion of Iraq (2003).

Question 15

In what conflict did the United States introduce "smart" weapons such as stealth aircraft and precision-guided munitions?

A) U.S. liberation of Kuwait (1991).
B) U.S. intervention in Kosovo (1999).
C) U.S. intervention in Afghanistan (2001).
D) U.S. invasion of Iraq (2003).

Question 16

What two countries were the targets of U.S. "dual containment" after the Cold War?

A) Russia and China.
B) China and Iraq.
C) Iraq and Russia.
D) Iran and Iraq.

Question 17

Which of the following was emphasized in America's 2002 National Security Strategy?

A) Rising China.
B) Mutual Assured Destruction.
C) Anticipatory self-defense.
D) Counterinsurgency tactics.

Question 18

What country did the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) seek to pacify?

A) Iraq.
B) Bosnia.
C) Afghanistan.
D) Libya.

Question 19

Who promoted the "surge strategy" in Iraq?

A) General David Petraeus.
B) Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta.
C) General Colin Powell.
D) President George W. Bush.

Question 20

Which of the following were not involved in Iraq's sectarian violence during the Iraq War that began in 2003?

A) Sunni Muslims.
B) Shia Muslims.
C) Sufi Muslims.
D) Ethnic Kurds.

Question 21

Which of the following was a central foreign-policy objective of President Obama after he assumed office?

A) Nuclear disarmament.
B) Regime change in Iraq.
C) Providing security to Saudi oil production facilities.
D) Fostering human rights in China.

Question 22

What did America's 2010 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) emphasize?

A) Modernization of U.S. nuclear forces.
B) Reducing the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. military strategy.
C) Eliminating nuclear weapons globally.
D) Increasing the number of U.S. ICBMs.

Question 23

Which of the following did the Obama administration increasingly emphasize in its counterterrorism and counterinsurgency strategies?

A) Prepositioning military equipment.
B) Cyber-weapons.
C) Nation-building.
D) Special Operations Forces.

Question 24

What country is believed to have hacked into the computers of Sony Pictures in 2014?

A) China.
B) North Korea.
C) Iran.
D) Russia.

Question 25

What was "Stuxnet"?

A) A computer virus used to attack Iranian nuclear facilities.
B) A surveillance program employed by America's National Security Agency (NSA)?.
C) A cyber-weapon used by Russia to attack Georgia and Estonia.
D) An antimissile system used by Israel to defend against Hezbollah and Hamas.

Question 26

What is Unit 61398?

A) A U.S. Special Operations team.
B) A Chinese cyber-espionage team.
C) An Iranian nuclear research group.
D) A Russian unit detected in Ukraine.

Question 27

Where did America's first lethal drone strike occur?

A) Afghanistan
B) Iraq.
C) Pakistan.
D) Yemen.

Question 28

What is meant by a "signature strike"?

A) A Special Operations raid to capture a suspected terrorist.
B) A drone strike against a known terrorist.
C) A drone strike on unidentified but suspected terrorists.
D) A Special Operations raid intended to assassinate a known terrorist.

Question 29

What is major risk of drone strikes?

A) They may harm innocent civilians.
B) They may strike urban areas.
C) They may produce U.S. military casualties.
D) They may reduce the willingness of allies to use ground forces against local terrorists.

Question 30

Who is Anwar al-Awlaki?

A) The leader of al-Qaeda after the death of Osama bin Laden.
B) An American citizen who died in a targeted drone strike in Yemen.
C) The founder of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
D) A Pakistani leader who opposed U.S. drone strikes in his country.

Question 31

Which of the following countries is modernizing its nuclear forces?

A) The United States.
B) Russia.
C) Pakistan.
D) All of the above.

Question 32

What country claims it successfully redirected a U.S. drone to land in its territory?

A) Russia.
B) Iran.
C) India.
D) China.

Question 33

What U.S. agency has managed most American drone strikes?

A) The Strategic Air Command.
B) The Central Intelligence Agency.
C) The U.S. Air Force.
D) The U.S. Navy.

Question 34

Why was it important during the Cold War that neither superpower be able to defend its cities against a nuclear attack?

A) Such a defense, if effective, might embolden the superpower with such a defense to behave aggressively.
B) It would reduce the willingness of both superpowers to reach an arms-control agreement.
C) Such a defense, if effective, might embolden the superpower without such a defense to behave aggressively.
D) It would lead the other superpower to develop a similar defense, thereby triggering an arms race.

Question 35

Who declared he would use tactical nuclear weapons to defend his country's sphere of influence?

A) Chinese President Xi Jinping.
B) Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
C) North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un.
D) Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Question 36

What was the most important arm- control agreement reached during the Cold War?

A) The Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty.
B) SALT II.
C) The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
D) The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I).

Question 37

What is MIRV?

A) America's first generation ICBM.
B) A U.S. missile deployed in Western Europe in response to Soviets deployment of intermediate missiles in Eastern Europe.
C) A missile with multiple warheads.
D) An accurate and mobile Soviet missile.

Question 38

Why was the United States reluctant to overthrow Saddam Hussein in 1991?

A) It feared that revolutionary Iran might take advantage of his death.
B) It expected that Saddam would cooperate with the United States afterwards.
C) It feared that Saddam's successor might be a militant Islamist.
D) It desired to form a regional alliance to include Iraq.

Question 39

What country experienced genocide in 1994 that the U.S. refused to recognize?

A) Somalia.
B) Rwanda.
C) Bosnia.
D) Kosovo.

Question 40

What was "Operation Enduring Freedom"?

A) U.S. liberation of Kuwait (1991).
B) U.S. intervention in Kosovo (1999).
C) U.S. intervention in Afghanistan (2001).
D) U.S. invasion of Iraq (2003).

Question 41

What is cyber-espionage?

Question 42

What was the gist of National Security Document 68?

Question 43

What constitutes a "second strike" nuclear weapon?

Question 44

Identify one element in the Powell Doctrine.

Question 45

What is a "first strike" capability.

Question 46

What is the Taliban?

Question 47

In addition to military force what is required for a successful counterinsurgency policy?

Question 48

What is meant by the "attribution problem" in cyber-security?

Question 49

Although there is no clear global challenger to the U.S., major states like ________________________________ pose regional challenges.

Question 50

President ___________________ had substantial foreign-policy experience--UN Ambassador, Ambassador to China, CIA Director, and Vice-President.

Question 51

Presidents ______________________ both claimed their styles and policies were shaped by their religious faith.

Question 52

As the Cold War began U.S. fears intensified after Moscow reneged on the promises it had made at the _____________________ to demobilize its forces in Eastern Europe and allow free elections in those countries.

Question 53

National Security Council Document 68 _______________ recommended ____________________________ to counter Soviet expansionism.

Question 54

The belief that if one country were allowed to fall to communism others would follow became known as _____________________.

Question 55

In 1953 Eisenhower adopted the doctrine of ____________________ as part of a defense policy that sought to reduce the role of costly conventional forces in Europe ____________________________________.

Question 56

Deterrence underwent refinement as America and the USSR acquired ______________________ by burying missiles in underground silos, making them mobile, or deploying them on submarines.

Question 57

The doctrine of _____________________ assumed that only mutual vulnerability to nuclear attack could prevent nuclear war.

Question 58

________________ argued that America should only commit forces to battle when a clear vital interest was threatened, other means of protecting that interest had been exhausted, there was a clear exit strategy and the use of force enjoyed broad domestic and international support.

Question 59

In 1994 genocidal war erupted in the small country of _____________ in central Africa.

Question 60

Responding to 9/11 the Bush Doctrine involved ________________________.

Question 61

Since 2009, there has been little evidence that nuclear-armed powers were moving toward the _________________ that President Obama envisioned.

Question 62

In 2014 cyber-security gained widespread attention when a group calling itself the Guardians of Peace hacked _________________, leaking thousands of documents and emails.

Question 63

______________ were used for reconnaissance during the Vietnam War and for spotting targets in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, NATO's 1999 air campaign in Kosovo, and the war against terrorists in Pakistan, Yemen, and elsewhere.