PSAT: Questions

The following excerpt is from an address by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, "New American Strategies for Security and Peace," at the Center for American Progress on October 29, 2003.

Of course in a democracy, there always is tension between the information that the Executive Branch needs to keep secret and the information that must be provided to the public to have an informed citizenry. There are no easy answers to striking the right balance. But we must always be vigilant against letting our desire to keep information confidential be used as a pretext for classifying information that is more about political embarrassment than national security. Let me be absolutely clear. This is not a propensity that is confined to one party or the other. It is a propensity of power that we must guard against.

Question: The main purpose of Clinton's address is to advocate an end to:

Choices:


	A.		tension between the Executive Branch and the public.
	B.		secrets kept by the Executive Branch solely for political reasons.
	C.		withholding of information by the political party to which Clinton is opposed.
	D.		public insistence on the release of classified information.
	E.		false information released by the Executive branch.

The correct answer is (B).

Choice (C) is contradicted by the passage, when Clinton says, "This [withholding information] is not a propensity that is confined to one party or the other."

Choices (A), (D), and (E) are not supported by the passage.

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PSAT: Questions

PSAT: Critical Reading Question #4