Satellites For Arms Control And Crisis Monitoring (1987) By Bhupendra Jasani & Toshibomi Sakata
 
This book shows how the use of reconnaissance satellites could be expanded to benefit the international community. A number of international experts review the technological requirements for satellite monitoring of arms control agreements and show that there is no serious technical obstacle to implementing an international satellite monitoring agency along the lines suggested to the United Nations in 1978. If reconnaissance capability were put under international control, crises could be monitored and international stability increased. The potential of modern remote-sensing technology is illustrated with satellite photographs of areas of conflict (the Iraq–Iran War), and catastrophes (Chernobyl). The data available from civilian satellites approach those required for many verification tasks in the arms control context.
Nevertheless, the idea of an international satellite monitoring agency faces major institutional and political problems. Since it cannot be achieved without the co-operation of the superpowers, contributors focus on the possibility of a regional agency, first of all in Europe, where space reconnaissance could well become one of the next generation of confidence- and security-building measures. The possibility of a satellite system shared by the neutral and non-aligned states is also discussed.
 
Hard Cover with Dust Jacket
176 pages 
In Good condition