Supplying Technology To the OPCW Inspectorate: Lessons from the IAEA/POTAS Experience

On January 14, 1993 the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction was opened for signature to all countries. The Convention will enter into force 180 days after the 65th signatory ratification, but in no case earlier than January 14, 1995. At that time, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will come into force, and the Technical Secretariat of the OPCW will be responsible for fielding a trained and equipped Inspectorate to verify compliance with the terms of the Convention. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has many years of experience operating under a multilateral verification regime. During this time, the IAEA Inspectorate has obtained the bulk of the modern technology and other specific technical support required to perform their duties from Member State Support Programs (MSSPs), the largest of which is the U.S. Program of Technical Support to IAEA Safeguards (POTAS), managed by the International Safeguards Project Office (ISPO) at Brookhaven National Laboratory. This paper discusses the lessons learned by POTAS and other MSSPs in providing sophisticated often oneof- a-kind technology and other support to the IAEA.