ABSTRACT
The United States and the Soviet Union had agreed to eliminate their intermediate-range nuclear missiles, and to accept intrusive measures to verify compliance with that agreement. By the end of the 1980s, several countries' governments had little sympathy with the ongoing nuclear weapon testing programs of the superpowers and little patience with the apparently low priority that those who continued to test gave to negotiating a ban on the practice. Although the Soviet government had once resolutely resisted intrusive verification on its soil, it had agreed in the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty to the stationing of American observers outside of a Soviet missile factory for a period of years. In 1986, 1987 and 1988, the House of Representatives had passed legislation cutting off funding for testing nuclear weapons at yields greater than one kiloton if the Soviet Union verifiably observed that limit. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
