chapter 7 -- Reduction Years

MULTINATIONAL TEAMS

During the reduction years, the composition of U.S. inspection teams changed. Participation by allied inspectors on U.S.-led teams increased, and more U.S. inspectors joined allied teams. This reflected a U.S. government policy decision to seek more inspection opportunities. The U.S.-led inspections with allied inspectors required some additional preparations to familiarize guest inspectors with U.S. inspection techniques and to train them in specific tasks as members of the team. The net benefit of more inspection opportunities outweighed the additional preparation requirements.

Inspectors from the United Kingdom and Belgium were led by Lt. Colonel Ronald Tait, OSIA Team Chief, during an inspection of Czech forces.

A more significant change to team composition developed when Eastern inspectors joined NATO nation inspection teams on declared sites and challenge inspections. As discussed previously, the NATO states extended the invitations in an attempt to stem an increasing number of East-on-East inspections. The first inspection to include Cooperative Partners took place on March 16, 1993, when inspectors from Poland, Hungary, and Azerbaijan joined an Italian-led team in an inspection of a Romanian declared site. The first Eastern inspector to join an American team, Lt. Colonel Oldrich Lacina of the Czech Republic, deployed with Team Fiser on April 28, 1993, on a successful mission to Taszar, Hungary, to inspect the 31st Fighter Regiment.¹⁷

Because the program to incorporate Eastern guest inspectors into NATO teams did not eliminate East-on-East inspections, the NATO nations chose to send Western inspectors to join Eastern inspection teams. The United States government was reluctant to participate, fearing that doing so would encourage more East-on-East inspections. In May 1994, U.S. policy changed; OSIA would send U.S. inspectors to join Eastern teams. This decision allowed the U.S. inspectors to take advantage of opportunities that otherwise would have been lost. The first U.S. inspector to participate on an Eastern inspection team, Major Marc Lieber, USMC, joined a Bulgarian-led inspection team on May 15, 1994, on a mission to inspect Romanian forces. A day later, Lt. Colonel Thomas C. Fiser participated in an inspection of Ukrainian forces as a member of a Polish-led inspection team.

One inspection that dramatically portrayed the changes that had occurred in Europe and in the implementation of the CFE Treaty took place in September 1994. Lt. Colonel Fred E. Busing, USAF, led an inspection team to Cazarma Centru Oradea, Romania, to inspect the 21st Mechanized Battalion. This American-led inspection team was a milestone of sorts because it included Russian guest inspectors Colonel Aleksandr Petrovich Kalinin and Colonel Gennadiy Mikhaylovich Savostyuk. The two dominant forces of the Cold War thus pooled their resources to conduct an arms control treaty inspection.¹⁸

The United States received only nine declared site inspections during the first reduction year. A Bulgarian team conducted the only inspection of U.S. facilities outside Germany during a mission to a POMCUS (prepositioning of material configured to unit sets) site at Grobbendonk, Belgium. The remaining eight inspections all took place in Germany. The second year brought nine more inspections of U.S. forces, eight in Germany and one in Italy. During the third year, OSIA teams escorted seven inspection teams: five in Germany and one each in Luxembourg and Italy. The issue of ambulances mounted on M-113 chassis arose several times during these inspections. Ukrainian inspectors wrote a comment on their report concerning this type of ambulance at the U.S. Tactical Training Center at Hohenfels, Germany, on June 5, 1993. The U.S. escort team chief, Lt. Colonel Jan S. Karcz, USA, denied the Ukrainian inspectors access to the interior of the ambulances. Karcz told them that the ambulances were neither armored combat vehicles nor look-alikes, and therefore were not subject to the treaty. The inspection team chief did not declare an ambiguity, but commented that there was no way to confirm that the vehicles were ambulances instead of M-113s.

Lt. Colonel Gabor Nagy of Hungary, a Cooperative Partner inspector, served on a U.S. team at Trencin, Slovakia, in November 1993.

Colonel Aleksandr Petrovich Kalinin, a Russian inspector, served on an American team in Romania. He signals all's well after the plane skidded off the runway.

Colonel Lawrence G. Kelley, USMC, encountered a similar situation while escorting Hungarian inspectors during an inspection of the Leghorn Army Depot in Livorno, Italy, on June 21, 1994. Technicians accidentally had left the doors to the ambulances open, allowing the inspectors to observe the interior of ambulances that had not yet been modified. The site commander provided the Hungarian inspectors documentation to show that conversion kits had been ordered, but had not yet arrived. The inspectors ultimately made no comments on the inspection report.¹⁹

During the reduction period, U.S. inspection teams continued their policy of strict adherence to the provisions of the CFE Treaty. They exercised their inspection rights and protected U.S. interests to the fullest. Despite encountering problems, U.S. inspection teams maintained a professional relationship with their counterparts while attempting to resolve those problems. They incorporated new team members from different nations and participated on teams from other nations. They displayed flexibility in completing their mission, while maintaining high standards.