Chapter 5 discusses the course of U.S. foreign policy during the Soviet Union’s decline in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Leveraging recently declassified materials, it shows that the United States persistently preyed on the Soviet Union over the course of the latter’s decline. Moreover, the intensity of U.S. predation varied depending on the Soviet military threat: at times when the Soviet Union was able to military threaten the United States, U.S. leaders capped the intensity of their predation; conversely, U.S. predation intensified at times – most notably, following the Eastern European Revolutions of 1989-1990 – when the Soviet military looked impotent. These findings provide strong evidence for predation theory while challenging alternative accounts of rising state strategy.