Quiz: what you know re diplomacy, intelligence, military?

July 21, 2008
McClatchy Blog
N&S News Quiz

We thought we'd try something different here at Nukes and Spooks today - a news quiz to test our readers' (and our own!) knowledge of some basic facts about diplomacy, intelligence and the military.

Answer the 20 questions below *without* heading to Google, Wikipedia. (We'll have to use the honor system here!). Go ahead - show us how closely you follow national security news. Or learn something new. We'll post the answers on Thursday.

P.S. - You can obviously check on others' answers in the comment section, but try answering the questions yourself first...

1 - What was Zimbabwe's former name?

2 - Which countries, other than the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States) are belived to have nuclear weapons? (NOTE: Not weapons programs, but actual weapons).

3 - Name two countries that have voluntarily given up their nuclear weapons or weapons programs in the last 25 years.

4 - Roughly how many U.S. troops are in a Brigade Combat Team?

5 - What is the world's largest Muslim country, by population?

6 - Name any five of the 18 member agencies and departments of the U.S. Intelligence Community.

7 - Iran borders seven other countries. Name three of them.

8 - Name any three provinces of Afghanistan.

9 - Name the current White House national security adviser; Director of National Intelligence; head of the CIA; and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

10 - Which former president does Sen. John McCain often cite as his hero and model?

11 - Name any four religious or ethnic groups in Iraq.

12 - What are the two holiest cities in Islam?

13 - What South American rebel group recently got tricked into giving up some hostages it had held for many years? What country does it operate in? Extra credit: What do its initials stand for?

14 - Nelson Mandela just had a birthday. How old is he?

15 - What two elements can be used to make fissile material for a nuclear bomb?

16 - The CIA is a succesor to which World War-II era spy and covert action agency?

17 - Which countries did President Bush call the "Axis of Evil" in his 2002 State of the Union address?

18 - Roughly (within 10 or so) how many member countries of the United Nations are there?

19 - Which U.S. intelligence agency is widely believed (the numbers are classified) to be the largest, both by budget size and number of personnel?

20 - Name five countries where U.S. armed forces have participated in military action (not neccesarily ground combat) since the end of the Cold War?