A Miss America Contestant Was Given 20 Seconds To Answer A Question About ISIS - And She Nailed It

Earlier this month, 53 American women competed at the 2015 Miss America pageant. The top five contestants left in the competition are forced to answer notoriously difficult questions about current and newsworthy topics like foreign policy, law, technology, and culture.

Retired Army Brigadier General Anne Macdonald asked Miss Virginia, 21-year-old Courtney Paige Garrett, the following question about ISIS, the jihadist group that has captured a Belgium-sized slice of Iraq and Syria:

Brig. Gen. Macdonald: "The savageness of the ISIS threat to our security was demonstrated by the gruesome videos of two journalists and an aid worker being beheaded. What should our country's response be?"

Without skipping a beat, Miss Virgina gave a thorough and wide-ranging answer in less than 20 seconds, advocating a US-led coalition with the backing of major international organizations.

Courtney Garrett: "This is an absolute outrage and something definitely needs to be done but I don't think America needs to be the only one to do it. I really think it's important for the world, for the UN to come together and decide what is the best thing we can do to really come together as a bigger and more impactful source to end this horrid, horrid, thing that is happening."

Garrett was selected as a 1st runner-up to Miss New York and was awarded a $25,ooo scholarship. She graduated earlier this year from Liberty University with a double-major in music and communications.

Below is a video of Miss Virginia's on-stage question (begins at 3:23).