Verification Technologies
Frank Barnaby · 2021
The utility of any arms-control or disarmament treaty will depend to a large extent on the effectiveness of its verification provisions. The verification procedures will require novel technical equipment, particularly for the continuous chemical analysis, by spectrometry and other methods, of effluents from various parts of chemical plants. The verification requirements for a chemical-weapon treaty are comparable with, or more complex than, the safeguards procedures for verifying the provisions of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, elaborated by the International Atomic Energy Agency. In addition to the normal national technical means, there are a number of technological systems which can be used to verify treaties controlling conventional arms, whether in Europe or in any other region. Some photo-reconnaissance satellites are devoted to just one activity, but current American KH-11 satellites carry both close-look and wide-angle cameras. Some reconnaissance satellites use charged-couple devices, semi-conductors sensitive to light, in linear arrays of detectors.