Defense Department analysts worry that the ability of the United States to wage a prolonged war would be seriously endangered...

GMAT Critical Reasoning : (CR) Questions

Source: Official Guide

Critical Reasoning

Paradox

MEDIUM

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Notes

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Defense Department analysts worry that the ability of the United States to wage a prolonged war would be seriously endangered if the machine-tool manufacturing base shrinks further. Before the Defense Department publicly connected this security issue with the import quota issue, however, the machine-tool industry raised the national security issue in its petition for import quotas.

Which of the following, if true, contributes most to an explanation of the machine-tool industry's raising the issue above regarding national security?

When the aircraft industries retooled, they provided a large amount of work for tool builders.

The Defense Department is only marginally concerned with the effects of foreign competition on the machine-tool industry.

The machine-tool industry encountered difficulty in obtaining governmental protection against imports on grounds other than defense.

A few weapons important for defense consist of parts that do not require extensive machining.

Several federal government programs have been designed which will enable domestic machine-tool manufacturing firms to compete successfully with foreign toolmakers.

Solution

Passage Analysis:

Text from Passage	Analysis
Defense Department analysts worry that the ability of the United States to wage a prolonged war would be seriously endangered if the machine-tool manufacturing base shrinks further.	What it says: Defense experts think a smaller machine-tool industry would hurt America's ability to fight long wars What it does: Sets up the government's concern about national security and manufacturing What it is: Government analysts' assessment
Before the Defense Department publicly connected this security issue with the import quota issue, however, the machine-tool industry raised the national security issue in its petition for import quotas.	What it says: The machine-tool companies brought up national security concerns in their import quota request before the Defense Department made the connection public What it does: Creates a timing puzzle - shows the industry mentioned security first, which seems suspicious given the Defense Department's separate concerns What it is: Author's observation about sequence of events

Argument Flow:

The passage presents a curious timing situation. First, we learn that Defense Department analysts have genuine concerns about national security and the machine-tool industry. Then we discover that the machine-tool industry itself raised these same national security concerns when asking for import quotas - and they did this before the Defense Department went public with their worries.

Main Conclusion:

There's no explicit conclusion here - this is actually a setup passage that presents a puzzle about why the machine-tool industry would raise national security concerns before the government did.

Logical Structure:

This isn't a traditional argument with premises supporting a conclusion. Instead, it's laying out a suspicious coincidence that needs explanation. The passage shows us that the industry's timing seems too convenient - they happened to raise the exact same concerns that government analysts had, but before those concerns were made public. This creates doubt about whether the industry's motives were purely about national security or if they had other reasons for wanting import quotas.

Prethinking:

Question type:

Paradox - We need to explain why the machine-tool industry brought up national security concerns in their import quota petition before the Defense Department made this connection public. The timing seems suspicious - how did they know to use this argument?

Precision of Claims

The key claims involve timing (industry raised security issue first), activity (petitioning for import quotas), and causation (connecting security concerns to trade policy). We need to respect that the industry did genuinely raise security concerns before the Defense Department went public.

Strategy

For paradox questions, we need to find plausible explanations that resolve the apparent contradiction or surprising timing. The puzzle is: how did the industry know to connect national security with import quotas before the government officially made this link? We need scenarios that explain this coincidence without questioning the factual timeline given.

Answer Choices Explained

When the aircraft industries retooled, they provided a large amount of work for tool builders.

'When the aircraft industries retooled, they provided a large amount of work for tool builders.' This tells us about past business relationships between aircraft and machine-tool industries, but it doesn't explain why the machine-tool industry would specifically raise national security concerns in their import quota petition before the Defense Department went public. We need to understand their timing and motivation, not their historical work relationships.

The Defense Department is only marginally concerned with the effects of foreign competition on the machine-tool industry.

'The Defense Department is only marginally concerned with the effects of foreign competition on the machine-tool industry.' This actually makes the paradox worse, not better. If the Defense Department barely cares about foreign competition in this industry, it becomes even more puzzling why the machine-tool industry would think to use national security as their argument. This deepens the mystery rather than solving it.

The machine-tool industry encountered difficulty in obtaining governmental protection against imports on grounds other than defense.

'The machine-tool industry encountered difficulty in obtaining governmental protection against imports on grounds other than defense.' This perfectly resolves our timing puzzle! If the industry had already tried other approaches to get import protection and failed, they would logically turn to the remaining option - national security arguments. This explains why they used this specific approach and why the timing seemed so convenient. They weren't being psychic; they were being strategic after other methods failed.

A few weapons important for defense consist of parts that do not require extensive machining.

'A few weapons important for defense consist of parts that do not require extensive machining.' This information about weapon manufacturing doesn't help explain the industry's strategic decision-making or timing. Whether some weapons need less machining doesn't tell us why the industry chose to emphasize national security concerns in their petition when they did.

Several federal government programs have been designed which will enable domestic machine-tool manufacturing firms to compete successfully with foreign toolmakers.

'Several federal government programs have been designed which will enable domestic machine-tool manufacturing firms to compete successfully with foreign toolmakers.' If helpful government programs already exist, this makes it even more mysterious why the industry would need to petition for import quotas using national security arguments. This choice creates more questions rather than answering the timing puzzle we're trying to solve.

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