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Difficulty: EasyThe War on Terror and Post-9/11 Security

"Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped, and defeated."
—President George W. Bush, Address to a Joint Session of Congress, September 20, 2001

Which of the following best describes a major change in United States foreign policy that resulted from the situation described in the excerpt?

  1. A shift toward targeting non-state actors and transnational terrorist networks rather than traditional nation-statesAnswer
  2. B
    A return to the containment strategy designed to limit the spread of Soviet influence in Eastern Europe
  3. C
    A retreat into strict isolationism and the rejection of all overseas military deployments
  4. D
    An escalation of conventional military intervention in Southeast Asia following a naval clash in the Gulf of Tonkin

Answer

A shift toward targeting non-state actors and transnational terrorist networks rather than traditional nation-states
The correct answer is correct because the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda prompted a fundamental reorganization of U.S. national security and foreign policy. Instead of focusing on containing rival nation-states as had been done during the Cold War, the United States launched the War on Terror, which targeted decentralized, transnational non-state actors and any governments that harbored them.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the stimulus document
The excerpt is from President George W. Bush's address following the September 11 attacks, defining the 'war on terror' as a fight against 'every terrorist group of global reach,' beginning with al-Qaeda.
Understanding the source and context helps identify the primary foreign policy goals of the post-9/11 era.
2
Evaluate the options against the historical context of the post-9/11 era
Identify that al-Qaeda is a non-state actor and transnational terrorist network. The post-9/11 foreign policy focused heavily on preemptive action and combatting such organizations rather than traditional state-to-state conflict.
This links the details of the stimulus to the correct historical development of Period 9 foreign policy.
3
Eliminate chronologically incorrect distractors
Eliminate the options referring to Cold War containment of the Soviet Union, interwar isolationism, and the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident as they describe foreign policy actions from earlier, unrelated historical periods.
Chronological classification confirms that the other options do not apply to the 2001-present era.

Key Concept

The Shift to the War on Terror and Post-9/11 Security
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

The War on Terror and Post-9/11 Security

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