Open Skies Ahead?

The Treaty on Open Skies provides for cooperative aerial observation among nearly three dozen States Parties in North America and Eurasia. Yet the treaty's contribution to confidence building and arms control verification are negligible. Negotiated during the final years of the Cold War and having come into force only two and a half years ago, the treaty is very much an artifact of a by-gone era. There is talk underway of reforming the treaty to suit the security challenges of the post-Cold War World, however. In this paper, I argue that the political ups and downs of Open Skies over the past 50 years offers some insight into the treaty's future. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]