Strengthening Safeguards Through Open Source Information Collection and Analysis

The IAEA’s strengthened safeguards system requires a broad review of all available information concerning a Member State’s nuclear programme in order to determine its compliance with its safeguards agreements and its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. This entails the collection and analysis of a broad range of information, including open source information, grey literature, internal IAEA information, and commercial satellite imagery. Integrating this diverse information set with nuclear material accounting data and Additional Protocol declarations poses a qualitatively new challenge for the Agency. The Agency’s primary open source information collection capability lies in the Information Support Section of the Division of Safeguards Information Technology (SGIT). Until the mid- 1990s this section was responsible for processing and analysing nuclear material accounting data. The collection of open source information was a completely new task that required not only new hardware and software, but also a new set of skills. This challenge has been met through a concerted effort to create new capabilities, relying in part on extrabudgetary support from Member States. The result is a capability that increasingly provides analytical products for the state evaluation process as well as raw data. Despite these successes many challenges remain. Technical challenges include collecting, sorting, and finding patterns in large quantities of text information. Analytical and organizational challenges include the need to compile information for over 50 state files every year, drawing on diverse sources in multiple languages. To meet these challenges the Agency is upgrading its computer systems, diversifying and deepening its sources of information, emphasizing the recruitment of experienced information analysts, and is training personnel in advanced information collection and analysis techniques. The consistent application of these measures will ensure that the Agency develops and maintains a highly effective information collection capability meets the needs of the strengthened safeguards system.