Responding to Challenges I: Strengthening Safeguards

After the first Gulf War, inspections revealed that Iraq had beenconducting a large, multifaceted program to develop the meansfor producing weapons-usable nuclear material. This programhad gone undetected by safeguards as well as by national intelligenceactivities. Reflecting in 1991 on lessons learned from Iraq,then International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) DirectorGeneral Hans Blix concluded that the IAEA can uncover clandestinenuclear activities with a high degree of assurance if threemajor conditions are fulfilled: 1) access is provided to informationobtained, inter alia through national technical means, regardingsites that may require inspection; 2) access to any such sites, evenat short notice, is an unequivocal right of the IAEA; and 3) accessto the Security Council is available for backing and support thatmay be necessary to perform the inspection.