President Bush’s personal relationships with foreign leaders, his diplomatic skills, and his years of experience in national security affairs made him well suited to lead the nation through those uneasy and challenging times. He also assembled a team of experienced colleagues who had worked together in prior administrations. Together, they constituted a national security dream team, or — as General Colin Powell (USA, Ret.) called it — “a gang of professional killer angels.” His foreign policy team is known as the “gold standard” of national security apparatus.