ABSTRACT
Verification is intimately connected with the gathering of sensitive military intelligence, so a high level of secrecy is essential. Verification employs highly complex techniques and devices, so most people will never be able to assess for themselves the capabilities and limitations of most monitoring technologies, even if full information were made available. And rhetorical distortion is the very essence of political debate. Verification has developed a rich and varied vocabulary derived from the intimate historical connections between science, intelligence and diplomacy. The verification process itself consists of a number of activities which it is often useful to visualize as occurring in stages. The process begins with monitoring, which is the gathering of data, for example by reading the scientific journals of another state or photographing its military installations from a satellite. On-site inspection has been highly controversial throughout the history of arms control negotiations. The chapter also provides an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
