Implementing U.S. Arms Control Agreements: A View from the Trenches

Verification of arms control agreements has become a major topic in international relations. Although violations of such agreements properly command significant attention at the highest levels, the successful implementation of these often complex and intrusive verification regimes frequently goes unnoticed. This book documents the story of one of the key organizations in this historic struggle to constrain and, where possible, eliminate the weapons that continue to plague the human race and the world environment-the United States (U.S.) Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and its legacy organization, the U.S. Department of Defense On-Site Inspection Agency (OSIA). This story is told by some of the world's leading experts on the subject-men and women who labored on the front lines of the on-site inspections (OSI) and related activities which formed a key component of the verification of a broad array of modern arms control agreements. Recounted in the book are the real-world experiences for students and practitioners of the arms control profession to reflect upon. This collection of arms control missions provides many firsts: - They are a record of the first actual arms control on-site inspections under the INF Treaty and, soon after, START. - They document the first travels and visits to Soviet and Russian INF and START missile sites. - They provide the first American experiences and visits to many remote Soviet and Russian military communities; often being the first time many Soviet/Russian citizens saw any Americans. - They record, for the Soviet and Russian inspectors, their reactions and wonder at U.S. treaty sites. U.S. INF and START inspection sites gave these inspectors the opportunity to visit U.S. military sites, to experience U.S. capitalist stores rich in consumer goods, and to eat in restaurants stocked with plenty of delicious food. - They also provide insight to the reaction of U.S. military facilities to the presence of Soviet/Russian inspectors accessing protected areas of the sites. Read more