Word: soviet
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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This is how the U.S. has been keeping watch on the size, power and other essential characteristics of the Soviet strategic arsenal. Through such observations, Washington would have been able to be pretty confident that Moscow was not cheating under the terms of SALT II. But whether the U.S. can continue to monitor Soviet tests with the same certitude is now being questioned, especially by key U.S. Senators concerned about the loss of two important CIA listening posts in northern Iran. Such worries are making verification a major issue in the SALT II debate even before the treaty has been...
...Iran until 1984. After this gloomy assessment was leaked last week, Defense Secretary Harold Brown tried to sound more encouraging. He said that even though "regaining all of [the Iranian] monitoring capability . . . will take until 1983 or 1984," the U.S. will have "enough of it to verify adequately Soviet compliance with the provisions of SALT II [in] about a year...
This hardly stilled the controversy, for Brown appeared to be implying that there would be a yearlong gap in U.S. verification capability. In a clarification the next day, he stressed that while it might take a year to replace the Iranian capabilities that affected SALT, "our verification of Soviet missile developments never consisted solely of monitoring from Iran." Said Brown: "Considering the variety of our monitoring techniques . . . I'm convinced that we're going to be able to verify a SALT agreement from the moment it is signed and ratified...
...monitoring devices is the spy satellite. Constantly on watch, because of its ability to remain over one place for months, it can not only detect bursts of heat with infrared sensors but also record developments with extraordinarily accurate cameras. These photographs can reveal strategically important changes being made at Soviet missile silos, like modification of the launcher size, and unusual traffic to and from a suspected new missile site. Another of the satellite's most important functions is to tune in on electronic data being relayed from missiles to Soviet tracking stations during tests...
...increased or decreased by more than 5%, the weapon would have to be designated as a "new type" of missile and be subject to a sharp limitation on deployment. (Some critics of SALT caution that the margin of error in measurement still makes it impossible to determine whether Soviet missiles exceed the size limits.) Missile takeoffs are monitored by ground bases to the west. With the closing of the two sites in Iran, the bases in Turkey are the nearest to the Soviet Union. The impact areas in the Pacific and on the U.S.S.R.'s Kamchatka Peninsula are watched...