Publications Details
Societal Verification for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Arms Control
Societal verification-the use of data produced by the public to support confirmation that a state is in compliance with its nonproliferation or arms control obligations-is a concept as old as nonproliferation and arms control proposals themselves. With the tremendous growth in access to the Internet, and its accompanying public generation of and access to data, the concept of societal verification has undergone a recent resurgence in popularity. This chapter explores societal verification through two mechanisms of collecting and analyzing societallyproduced data: mobilization and observation. It describes current applications and research in each area before providing an overview of challenges and considerations that must be addressed in order to bring societally-produced data into an official verification regime. The chapter concludes by emphasizing that the role of societal verification, if any, in nonproliferation and arms control will supplement rather than supplant traditional verification means.