Historical Dictionary of United States Intelligence

grams or systems. Only individuals who have the need to know about

the systems or programs and have received clearances for them are

allowed access to the information. See alsoSPECIAL COMPART-

MENTED INTELLIGENCE FACILITY.

COMPREHENSIVE TEST BAN TREATY (CTBT). Negotiated

with the Soviet Unionbetween 1994 and 1996, the treaty commits

the parties to a total ban on nuclear explosions. To enforce this stip-

ulation, the treaty establishes a global network of 321 internationally

maintained monitoring stations to detect clandestine explosions and

provides for on-site challenge inspections in cases of doubt. As such,

the CTBTextends the limits imposed by the 1963 Limited Nuclear

Test Ban Treaty’s(LNTBT’s) prohibitions on atmospheric, under-

sea, and outer-space testing. Over 165 countries have signed and over

90 have ratified the CTBT, but, according to its provisions, the treaty

can come into force only when it is ratified by all nuclear capable

states—a total of 44 countries. To date, the treaty lacks ratifications

from nearly a dozen of those countries. The role of U.S. intelligence

would be in verifying compliance with the terms of the treaty.

The United States has failed to ratify the CTBT, arguing that, in the

aftermath of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, the U.S.

may develop new tactical nuclear weapons, whose efficacy can only

be assured through testing. The administration of President George

W. Bush, moreover, has expressed little confidence that the treaty

will actually thwart nuclear proliferation. Proponents of the treaty, on

the other hand, argue that its implementation would curtail advances

in nuclear weaponry; limit the development of more advanced

weapons by countries vying to develop nuclear weapons technology;

and establish an international norm against testing that would rein-

force the provisions of the Nonproliferation Treaty(NPT).

CONDOR (OPERATION). Anetwork of Latin American secret po-

lice agencies that in the mid- to late 1970s coordinated attacks against

their political opponents around the world. The plan called for the

regime of Augusto Pinochetin Chile, along with other military gov-

ernments in the region, to assassinate subversives, politicians, and

prominent figures both within the national borders of the southern

cone countries and abroad. On 21 September 1976, a bomb planted

CONDOR (OPERATION)•37

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