Chapter 1 -- The Treaty and the Mission

Treaty Periods

Negotiators developed the treaty so that implementation took place in four different periods. The initial 120-day baseline validation period, referred to as the CFE Treaty baseline, was expected to be an extremely busy period for inspection teams. During baseline each state party was prepared to receive inspections at a portion of its declared sites. During treaty negotiations, a consensus developed that there were too many declared sites to inspect each one during the brief baseline period. Consequently, negotiators agreed that it was not necessary to inspect each site to determine if a nation had been accurate in its data exchange. They agreed that each nation would be liable for inspections based on 20 percent of the total number of the OOVs declared in the initial exchange of data. These baseline inspections would occur when the amount of TLE and the number of OOVs would probably be at their highest and before nations could complete any significant TLE reductions. On-site inspections during baseline allowed states to take a significant sample of the data exchanged to determine its accuracy and to establish a base for planning future treaty activities.

The second period, the reduction phase, occurred after baseline, when the pace of the declared site inspections slowed to a rate of 10 percent of the total declared OOVs per year. This rate remained in effect during the three reduction years. During those years, inspectors would be no less busy because of the requirement to conduct reduction inspections. After these initial baseline and reduction periods, the third phase would consist of a 120-day residual level validation period. During this phase, states would inspect at a 20 percent rate to confirm the amount of equipment remaining following the reductions. On completion of the residual validation period, the declared site inspections would be conducted at a rate of 15 percent of each state's OOVs per year for the duration of the treaty, known as the residual period.

On-Site Inspections

Article XIV of the CFE Treaty allowed each state to verify compliance with all provisions of the treaty by giving each the right to conduct inspections. The same article obligated the treaty states to accept on-site inspections. Under the CFE Treaty there were four types of on-site inspections: declared site inspections, challenge inspections, reduction inspections, and certification inspections. One purpose of these inspections was to ascertain if each state was observing the numerical limitations on TLE located in the treaty zones and the flanks. These inspections also monitored the reduction of TLE, the certification of recategorized attack helicopters, and the reclassification of combat-capable training aircraft. Each served a specific purpose, and the Protocol on Inspections outlined procedures for conducting each type of inspection.

Types of Inspections:

Declared Site
Challenge
Reduction
Certification

Challenge inspections allowed teams to inspect for the presence of TLE in areas other than declared sites.

The declared site inspection was a critical tool for confirming the accuracy of exchanged treaty data. In theory and in fact, on-site inspections contributed to national security across Europe. The status of each state's forces and equipment became transparent to other states through inspection team reports and observations. An inspected state could not refuse a declared site inspection. It was a legal obligation under the treaty. Over the life of the treaty, the hundreds, indeed thousands, of on-site inspections allowed each state to conclude that other states were fulfilling their legal obligations and complying with the treaty's requirements. This important conclusion could, when combined with other information, lead to a new level of trust and confidence across national borders. Allowing treaty inspectors on-site was one key to developing and maintaining successful relationships among the signatory nations.

Negotiators recognized that nations could not rely solely on the declared site inspections to monitor compliance with treaty procedures. Article XV addressed their right to use national technical means such as satellites or reconnaissance aircraft to monitor treaty compliance. That article also prohibited the concealment of equipment to circumvent reconnaissance efforts. Negotiators also realized that to maintain a spirit of openness and cooperation, nations would have to open all of their territory to inspections, not just the sites where they had declared conventional military equipment.

Challenge inspections gave participating nations the right to inspect a specific and limited area other than declared sites in any signatory nation within the ATTU. This inspection right increased the likelihood of detecting weapons at sites not declared in the exchanged data. As in declared site inspections, quotas were applied to challenge inspections. Starting the day the treaty entered into force and continuing through the residual level validation period, challenge inspections operated within a quota. It was not more than 15 percent of a state's declared site inspection obligations. That quota increased to 23 percent over the subsequent life of the treaty. The procedures for challenge inspections were similar to those in declared site inspections, but there were differences.

In a challenge inspection, the inspection team provided a geographic description of the specified area, delineating the boundaries of the area it wanted to inspect. By comparison, in a declared site inspection, the inspected party declared its site and the treaty defined the site. A challenge inspection team, however, could request any location within a country, excluding declared sites. There was a limit to the size of the inspection area, namely, 65 square kilometers and no more than 16 kilometers between any two points within the area.

The major difference in a challenge inspection, however, was not area size, but the fact that the inspecting state could only request an inspection. The inspected state could refuse or accept the inspection within two hours after the inspection challenge was issued for a specified area. This was a critical right for any state in that it protected each state from inspection by another whose intent might not be associated with the CFE Treaty. An inspected state could refuse a challenge inspection request for reasons of safety or security. If the inspected state refused a challenge inspection request, however, it was obliged to assure the requesting state that there was no TLE in the specified area, a difficult task if reconnaissance photography indicated TLE present at that site. If the inspected state held TLE assigned to peacetime internal security forces within the specified area, it had to allow visual confirmation of the TLE present. Following a refusal, the inspection team could designate another challenge or declared site inspection. A refusal of the inspection did not reduce inspection quotas.

Surprise was a key element for both the declared site and challenge inspections. Treaty provisions dictated specific timelines for different actions during each inspection. As a consequence, an inspected state had very little time to move or reposition TLE. The treaty's Protocol on Inspection stipulated that an inspecting state had to provide only 36 hours' notice prior to an inspection team's arrival at the point of entry. After their arrival, the inspection team had from 1 to 16 hours to announce which declared site or specified area it intended to inspect. Following that announcement, the treaty required the inspected state to expeditiously transport the inspection team to the declared site. Nine hours was normally the maximum time to transport the inspection team to the site. In mountains or difficult terrain, the treaty permitted a 15-hour travel time to the site, but only 9 of those hours counted against the inspection team's time in country. Regardless of whether the permitted travel time was 9 or 15 hours, the treaty allowed the inspected state 6 hours to prepare the site for inspection.

Inspection teams moved quickly--within nine hours after declaring the site to be inspected.