What influences when a decision maker will view events in the international system as a threat? The findings from this study demonstrate that as events occur in the internationals system, decision makers are judging those events through the lens of their foreign policy goal structures. The conditions the event creates by altering the current state of affairs will generate a threat perception when the decision-makers believe their goals are being obstructed. This study also demonstrates that decision makers may develop a problem perception of the event rather than a threat perception, which leads to persistence in current policies and behavior despite changing circumstances. A Goal-Based Decision-Making Framework was developed to uncover the causal mechanisms at work in perception development. The theory was tested on nine events across three administrations. This contributes to the field of international relations and foreign policy, providing insight into how foreign policy goals affect decision-making.