Year
1993
Abstract
Inseparable from any treaty or agreement is the need for verification. This verification can, and does, range from covert activities designed for detection of treaty non-compliance to overt, continuous on-site monitoring. However, as technology becomes available which can allow a party to easily engage in illicit behavior and help conceal this behavior, the need for detection technology that can flag the undesirable activities becomes an important corner stone for international security. With the break-up of the Former Soviet Union resulting in several of the new Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) possessing weapons of mass destruction and with acquisition of nuclear, chemical and biological warfare capability by Third World countries, the urgency for detection/verification technology has never been greater. This new urgency is highlighted by the recent signing of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) which goes far beyond the 24-year old Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) in many key respects, despite the fact that both are designed to help curtail the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Similarly, especially with chemical and biological materials, the need for sensitive, accurate, fast, and portable detection technologies are urgently needed to undercover illicit activity whether it be chemical, nuclear or biological weapon development or drug manufacturing. Fortunately, state-of-the-art instrumentation is rapidly becoming available that can meet these widely varied needs and conduct the desired task at a high level of confidence, thus helping insure compliance with the relevant treaties.