The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) invited Steven Pifer to the OSCE “security days” forum in Vienna on June 25 to make a presentation on conventional arms control and confidence- and security-building measures (CSBMs). Several agreements cover these issues in the OSCE area. The Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty limited NATO and Warsaw Pact armaments. An adapted CFE Treaty was negotiated in 1999 to impose national limits in place of bloc-to-bloc limits (since the Warsaw Pact had disbanded) but has not entered into force. The Vienna Document on CSBMs provides for measures such as information exchanges and notifications of military exercises that exceed certain thresholds. The Open Skies Treaty allows overflights of countries to observe military installations and formations. Pifer touches these agreements in his talk.
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Commentary
A New Approach to Conventional Arms Control
June 25, 2012