Q2 - Government official: Residents who are foreign citizens

[mshinners]

Question Type:
Inference (Fill-In)

Stimulus Breakdown:
Non-citizens shouldn't be cabinet secretaries because only citizens should perform these duties. Undersecretaries sometimes fill in for the secretaries.

Answer Anticipation:
Putting these two together, the logical conclusion is that non-citizens should also be barred from being undersecretaries.

Correct answer:
(B)

Answer choice analysis:
(A) Out of scope. The argument doesn't ever talk about granting citizenship.

(B) Boom. This answer brings together the two discussion threads.

(C) Out of scope. The requirement for secretaries is citizenship, not experience.

(D) Opposite. The official calls the prohibition on non-citizens serving as secretary wise and never gives any information that would indicate a shift from that position.

(E) No support. While the official does discuss this policy, he never brings up any specific reason to question the policy.

Takeaway/Pattern:
Fill-In questions are all about bringing the two discussion threads together.

#officialexplanation

[DavidC912]

The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enacted in 1977 to enable US authorities (FBI and DOJ) to investigate and prosecute individuals and companies engaged in making bribes to foreign government officials. The US was the first country to enable such legislation. The FCPA was largely a response to the infamous Watergate scandal.

The FCPA and supporting legislation give the US an extremely broad jurisdictional reach. Any company or individual which, regardless of nationality or country of registration, can find itself subject to US jurisdiction if it uses US currency or transacts through the US banking system at any stage of making a bribe in any foreign country.

US companies started to change culturally to comply with this law; however it became clear that this meant US companies were not competing on a level playing field. In 1999, thanks to US pressure, an international treaty was signed by member nations of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to enact similar legislation. As a result many countries now have foreign bribery legislation.

The existence of the FCPA also allows US authorities to engage with international law enforcement partners to combat foreign bribery across jurisdictions. Lessons learned through the enforcement of the FCPA are shared with these international law enforcement partners in forums such the International Foreign Bribery Taskforce (IFBT). The IFBT was founded in 2013 by law enforcement agencies from Canada, Australia, UK and USA.

Corruption is everyone’s problem. It is no longer acceptable corporations and individuals to corruptly influence officials in foreign jurisdictions.