Challenges and Lessons Learned from Nuclear Inspections in Iraq

The International Atomic Energy Agency’s experience in Iraq certainly reached a turning point in March 2003 when its team, together with that of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and the rest of the United Nations organizations operating in Iraq, had to withdraw in view of the announced military operations. Nevertheless, from the signature of Iraq’s safeguards agreement in the 1970s until the implementation of UN Security Council resolution (UNSCR) 1441 in early 2003, the agency has accumulated invaluable experience in nuclear verification, addressing issues from the mine to the weapon. Numerous technical and methodological measures, often unprecedented, were taken by the agency to cope with the challenges of the situation; some with great success, others with limited results. Such measures covered the fields of relations with supporting member states, interaction with the inspected state from the organizational to the individual level, selection and utilization of human resources, implementation of technological tools, development of the analytical effort needed to reach the proper level of assurance requested by the international community, and efforts in public information. Even if we keep the specificity of the “Iraq case” in mind, this experience has already been and certainly will be of value for nuclear verification for years to come, particularly in a context where international security has become an increasingly important issue.