What key component of u. s. foreign policy during the cold war is dulles describing?
containment
brinkmanship
domino theory
mutually assured destruction

Since I don't know what he is describing, I will explain all of them. Containment was the U.S.'s central foreign policy during the Cold War which meant that they wanted to contain Communism in the nations it was already in and to stop it from spreading. Brinkmanship is the act of trying to gain an advantage by pushing events to dangerous levels, like threatening nuclear war. The Domino Theory states that if one nation fell to Communism, all of the nations surrounding it would follow suit. Mutually assured destruction means that both countries know that if one attacks, the other would retaliate in such force that both nations would have equal levels of destruction.

the answer is brinkmanship :)