The Verification Challenge/Arms Control Verification/Verification
Richelson, Jeffrey
ALL EYES & EARS TO THE GROUND THE VERIFICATION CHALLENGE PROBLEMS AND PROMISE OF NUCLEAR ARMS CONTROL VERIFICATION Richard A. Scribner, Theodore J. Ralston, William D. Metz Birkhauser, $9.95,...
...Several chapters here are devoted to seismic monitoring in which the strength of different waves that pass through and along the earth's surface is measured to distinguish between explosions and earthquakes and to determine the yield of a nuclear blast...
...While some individual chapters or portions of chapters provide useful information, the reader should not expect to find an integrated book between the covers so much as a collection of conference papers relating to various aspects of verification...
...The authors explain how images can be enhanced through a variety of techniques, how explosions can be distinguished from earthquakes, and how the yields of explosions are calculated...
...Such discussions do not help convey the essential technical information to the reader...
...Such satellites have a variety of equipment on them Bhangmeters, X-Ray Burst Detectors, Dosimeters, and EMP Detectors to detect different indications of a nuclear blast...
...Any book on the verification issue can cover some or all of the many aspects of verification...
...Jeffrey Riehelsen Vj^A ^^M erification has become a y^^^^K major issue in arms con^^^^^m trol...
...Of more value is the discussion, in Chapter Four, of image and seismic processing which explains the first step involved in translating the data brought back by NTMs into intelligence...
...There is also a discussion of electronic intelligence specifically the use of radars, aircraft, and ships to monitor missile tests...
...Chapters Five and Six provide a good overview of both past and present compliance issues thereby demonstrating the application of NTMs to monitoring specific provisions...
...Indeed, according ^^^^V to the Arms Control and ^^^V Disarmament Agency it is "the critical element of arms control...
...Finally, many of the chapters that deal with the various technologies soon drift off into very technical discussions full of equations...
...The issue has been of no less importance in the Reagan administration...
...to verify the proposed SALT II treaty...
...The authors cover issues raised by the USSR the concealment of Minuteman silos and the uses of a radar on Shemya Island as well as those raised by the U.S.: the encryption of telemetry, the testing of two new missiles, and a new early warning radar at Krasnoyarsk...
...Thus, in Chapter Three we find a discussion of reconnaissance satellites (U.S...
...In his remaining two chapters prior to the conclusions Krass discusses the politics of verification as well as the link 13 February 1987: 91...
...Its importance has been evident since at least 1979 when Senator John Glenn and others questioned the ability of the U.S...
...ARMS CONTROL VERIFICATION THE TECHNOLOGIES THAT MAKE IT POSSIBLE Edited by Kosta Tsipis, David W. Hafmeister, Penny Janeway Pergamon-Brassey, $32.50, 419 pp...
...And looking toward the future, there is the question of verification requirements associated with possible future arms control arrangements such as a nuclear freeze, Comprehensive Test Ban, or an anti-satellite (ASAT) agreement...
...A second problem involves the absence of any consideration of signals intelligence the intelligence produced by intercepting foreign communications and electronic signals...
...and Soviet national technical means...
...Unfortunately Arms Control Verification is not very successful in linking up the technologies and verification...
...VERIFICATION HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH...
...If there is a flaw in the chapter it is that the NTMs which employ the technologies are not discussed in sufficient detail...
...If the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan had not led President Carter to refrain from submitting the prospective treaty for ratification, the verification issue by itself might have prevented ratification...
...There are the "national technical means" (NTMs) reconnaissance satellites, intelligence aircraft, and ground stations used to monitor compliance with the treaties...
...After an introductory chapter Allan S. Krass devotes over one hundred pages to a discussion of such subjects as visible light photography, infra-red detection, radar, image processing, seismology, and electronic reconnaissance...
...Given that signals intelligence is a major element in monitoring Soviet missile tests and verifying compliance with warhead limits 90: Commonweal and a variety of other treaty provisions, the failure to treat the subject must be viewed as a rather grave omission...
...The ability of imaging satellites to produce pictures depends on a variety of techniques and technologies multispectral cameras (with different lenses to detect energy of different frequencies), adaptive optics (which allows compensation for the atmospheric effects that distort space pictures), chargedcoupled devices (which are crucial to satellite systems that transmit imagery in real-time), and image enhancement by digital computer...
...Even as an introduction this chapter is somewhat disappointing as no attempt is made to present an order-of-battle of U.S...
...Among the problems is that no overview is provided of either the treaty provisions that need to be verified or the national technical means employed in verification...
...Without having an idea of how adaptive optics or seismic equipment relate to specific NTMs, the information provided about them becomes less useful...
...AUan S. Krass Taylor & Francis, $45, 271 pp...
...Chapters Three and Four deal in more detail with the collection and processing of information...
...In the penultimate chapter the authors turn their attention to the future considering the verification requirements associated with possible future arms control agreements...
...The Verification Challenge is essentially a primer on the subject and deals with a good number of these topics in a way that a novice in the field can understand...
...Part 3 examines the technologies employed in monitoring nuclear testing, AS AT, and the production of nuclear material...
...There are the technologies employed by the NTMs to collect the data and the technologies employed to process it...
...In addition, there are the analytical techniques and methodologies used to take the processed .information and produce estimates of warhead numbers, nuclear test yields, strategic delivery vehicles, and other weapons-system characteristics covered by various agreements...
...Some of the most important satellites used in monitoring Soviet compliance - the KH-11, RHYOLITE and MAGNUM are never mentioned...
...The politics of verification is another subject worthy of attention, as are past and present compliance issues...
...Thus the first two chapters of the book provide basic background informa13 February 1987: 89 tion: a brief history of nuclear arms control agreements, an introduction to national technical means and compliance issues as well as the role of verification in the arms control process...
...A much better job of presenting the basics of the technologies essential to verification is to be found in Verification: How Much Is Enough...
...Certainly the concept of devoting a book to the technologies that make national technical means possible is a valid one...
...The frequent reports alleging Soviet noncompliance with the provisions of various treaties and agreements implies the need for adequate verification capabilities either to detect Soviet transgressions or reassure the eternally suspicious...
...Arms Control Verification: The Technologies That Make It Possible is intended to be a much more advanced treatment of one particular aspect of verification...
...Part 2 of Arms Control Verification covers all these areas plus the use of infra-red surveillance...
...These topics do not exhaust the list...
...While the author is right to claim that secrecy and contradictory reports concerning the capabilities of NTMs make accurate descriptions difficult, that does not excuse a failure to make the attempt...
...Finally, seismic detection to monitor test ban treaties is examined...
...He is able to convey the basic scientific principles involved so that a reader with little or no background can understand the material...
...ALL EYES & EARS TO THE GROUND THE VERIFICATION CHALLENGE PROBLEMS AND PROMISE OF NUCLEAR ARMS CONTROL VERIFICATION Richard A. Scribner, Theodore J. Ralston, William D. Metz Birkhauser, $9.95, 249 pp...
...There are the treaties and their provisions...
...The use of satellites such as the Vela and Global Positioning System to detect nuclear explosions in space and in the atmosphere is also explored...
...and Soviet) and the limitations of satellite surveillance...
Vol. 114 • February 1987 • No. 3
