Chapter 2 -- Initial Preparations

Seal of the German verification agency, Zentrum für Verifikationsaufgaben der Bundeswehr (ZVBW).

New National Verification Agencies

Even before the CFE Treaty was signed in November 1990, some European nations had begun to establish their treaty verification agencies. Two of the largest CFE Treaty nations, the United States and the Soviet Union, already had established professional military inspection agencies. The INF Treaty's extensive on-site inspection provisions had caused both nations to act; the United States set up the On-Site Inspection Agency, and the USSR established the Nuclear Risk Reduction Center. INF Treaty inspections began in July 1988, and the U.S. and USSR agencies had conducted more than 400 on-site inspections by the time the CFE Treaty was signed. The agencies had recruited, trained, tested, equipped, and deployed hundreds of inspectors and dozens of teams. They had accumulated experience that was directly transferable to implementing the CFE Treaty.

Germany, Great Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Canada, Luxembourg, and the other CFE Treaty signatories had had only limited experience with on-site inspections. The Stockholm Document of 1986, a product of the Helsinki Process, was the earliest modern European agreement permitting on-site inspections of military units and sites. It contained provisions that would provide experience in some aspects of implementing an on-site inspection regime. The Stockholm Document mandated notification procedures for the United States, Canada, and each of the 33 European signatory states when they scheduled and conducted military activities involving at least 13,000 troops or 300 tanks. Moreover, to confirm that the activities were nonthreatening, each state had the right to observe field military activities of another state when participating forces exceeded 17,000 ground troops or 5,000 airborne or amphibious troops. Across Europe, there were few such large-scale events. When an exercise occurred, however, a state would issue a simple declaration that "compliance was in doubt" and the state being inspected had to accept the inspection team. There was no right of refusal by the nation to be inspected. Each state, however, was liable for only three inspections per year of its field exercises, and no nation could inspect another twice in the same year. Thus, the opportunities for inspections were infrequent.²⁹

By any measure, the number of people required to implement the inspection rights and requirements of the Stockholm Document of 1986 was minimal. In fact, the number was so small that no European nation saw fit to establish a full-time treaty verification center to carry out those provisions. The Stockholm Document signatories assigned the inspection missions to a section of their military staffs at national military headquarters. In contrast, the bilateral INF Treaty between the United States and the USSR contained on-site inspection rights that allowed more than 250 inspections in the first year alone. The CFE Treaty's inspection, escort, reduction, and data functions were so substantial that all of the European signatory states set up separate verification agencies or specific military staff offices. Their mission was to assist their military forces to comply with the treaty and to monitor other nations' compliance.

Among the NATO nations, Germany, France, and Great Britain elected to establish separate treaty verification agencies. Brigadier General Doctor Heinz Loquai, Director of the Zentrum für Verifikationsaufgaben der Bundeswehr (ZVBW) (Federal Armed Forces Verification Center), said that Germany's decision-making process began in 1989, with the new center being established in October 1990. "The main reason," he explained, "for the establishment of the center was Germany's foreseeable workload in the area of the CFE Treaty. Germany had more CFE sites than did the Soviet Union."³⁰ The mission of the new German verification center was to inspect, escort, and monitor all activities under the CFE Treaty. It also had responsibility for inspections under the Vienna Document 1990, which substantially broadened the scope of inspection activities of the earlier Stockholm Document agreement. In the fall of 1990, the ZVBW had 65 officers and noncommissioned officers (NCOs); two years later it had 400.³¹

The French government established its treaty verification unit, L'Unité Française de Vérification (UFV), in September 1990 at the Creil Air Station, 65 kilometers north of Paris. The new French unit consisted of an inspection and escort staff of approximately 100 officers and NCOs drawn from all the military services, army, navy, and air force. The mission of this new unit, led by Brigadier General Jean-Paul Huet, was to implement the CFE Treaty and the Vienna Document 1990. According to Colonel Francois Rozec, the UFV's second commandant, "The Arms Control Division of the General Staff in Paris and their political equivalents, it is their concern to inform our [political] authorities on all aspects of verification. We are strictly implementers."³²

Brigadier General Doctor Heinz Loquai, ZVBW Director, welcomes Major General Robert Parker, Director, OSIA, to the ZVBW.

Colonel Roy Giles, head of the United Kingdom's verification agency, Joint Arms Control Implementation Group (JACIG).

Great Britain's experience with inspections under international arms control agreements prior to the CFE Treaty was similar to Germany's. For the Stockholm Document of 1986, the British Ministry of Defense assigned the mission to a small cadre of military officers and NCOs, principally people with experience in the British Military Liaison Mission in Berlin. This small staff carried out both inspecting and escorting missions. In August 1990, the British Ministry of Defense established the Joint Arms Control Implementation Group (JACIG), under the leadership of Colonel Roy Giles, at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire. Its mission was to carry out the United Kingdom's commitments and entitlements under the CFE Treaty and the Vienna Document 1990. Initially, the new group's manpower strength was 120 officers, NCOs, and civilians; after review it decreased to slightly less than 100. It was a four-service group, with Royal Navy, Marine, Army, and Air Force personnel.³³

Among the other NATO nations, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Italy chose a different organizational concept when they set up their units to implement the CFE Treaty. They used a cadre model of organization. This meant that the national military command, usually the ministry of defense, authorized the establishment of a small unit responsible for implementing the treaty, usually composed of 20-30 military officers. Organized at the level just below the senior military headquarters, this unit's mission was to recruit, train, conduct inspection and escort missions, transmit treaty data, and monitor reductions mandated by the treaty. The Belgian verification agency, L'Unité Belge de Vérification (UBV), located in Brussels, was typical. Its mission was to lead all CFE Treaty inspection teams and to participate as inspectors on the team. For the escort mission, the Belgian agency had complete responsibility for the logistics, preparations, and presentation of the sites and units to be inspected by the Eastern states' CFE Treaty inspection teams. They also had responsibility for collecting all treaty-mandated data on the Belgian armed forces and for transmitting that data to all other CFE Treaty signatory nations. During CFE inspection and escort operations, personnel from the military forces augmented the staff of the Belgian verification agency. These military officers and NCOs had studied the treaty in special courses led by the agency's senior officers. In most cases, especially during escort missions, the bulk of the Belgian team consisted of augmentees from its military forces.³⁴

Italy had a similar organizational structure. The Director, Major General Joseph DiMaria, of the Centro Italiano de Verìfica de Armi (CIVA), explained that initially a cadre of approximately 250 personnel went through training on the CFE Treaty.³⁵ Once they had completed the course, they returned to their military units, and were available for inspection duty as needed. According to General DiMaria, "They come and they stay a couple of days in the agency; they have a refresher course, some particular training, or some special training for the target." The Italian agency, he reported, kept one team on duty 24 hours a day "in case Italy is notified a CFE Treaty inspection team is arriving."

The Netherlands had a small arms control treaty coordination section in the Ministry of Defense at The Hague.³⁶ The Dutch military forces carried out the bulk of Holland's CFE Treaty inspection and escort activities. The Dutch Army had approximately 80 officers and NCOs trained as CFE inspectors, the Dutch Air Force 35, and the Dutch Navy 1. The actual size of the Netherlands' professional staff committed to implementing the CFE Treaty was much smaller, with the Dutch Army providing 10-12 personnel, the Air Force 4-5, and the Navy 1. According to Navy Commander C.N.M. Wierema, Ministry of Defense Coordinator, the Netherlands set up a "decentralized organization," with the "bulk of the work done in the arms control sections of the forces."

In general, the NATO nations established their CFE Treaty verification organizations along two lines. Nations with the largest military forces and the most sites subject to inspection-the United States, Germany, France, and Great Britain-set up separate verification agencies. Led by senior military officers and staffed with career officers, noncommissioned officers, and civilians, these agencies ranged in size from 100 to 400 personnel, depending on the number of treaties and ancillary functions assigned to them. NATO nations with smaller military forces and fewer sites included in the treaty, such as Belgium, the Netherlands, and Italy, adopted a cadre model. Led by a senior colonel or general officer, these verification units were considerably smaller and relied on augmentees drawn from the military forces for inspection and escort responsibilities. In general, these national verification agencies and staffs had six basic functions: force data presentation, communication, inspection, escort, treaty training for national military forces, and coordination among the other verification agencies.

Major General Joseph DiMaria, Director of Italy's verification agency, Centro Italiano de Verìfica de Armi (CIVA).