Year
2014
Abstract
Today, computer codes are frequently used to simulate and develop measurements tech- niques, and to process measurement data for applications in nuclear arms control, non- proliferation, and disarmament. Software and its use play an important role in inter- national relations and influence cooperation and trust between states, international or- ganizations and other actors. However, often barriers such as export controls or high costs for source code impede access to simulation and data processing software for certain stakeholders. Both transparency and trust among states would gain if standards known from the so-called Open Source community would be applied to software in the field of arms control, too. Software should meet three criteria to achieve this goal: Free access to software, free access to source code, and a permission to modify and redistribute modified versions of a particular program. This paper will address these issues and give an overview of different current and future verification tasks in nuclear arms control and disarmament. Required and applied software codes are briefly discussed and the status of software regarding the criteria is analyzed. In addition, we lay out benefits of Open Source software specifically for non-proliferation and disarmament applications regarding transparency, trust-building and participation. Freely available software would also allow for broader participation in verification processes and could help to bridge the existing gap between the idea of “societal verification” and technical verification, carried out by expert communities.