Minot Treaty Compliance Office, ready for foreign inspections Published March 30, 2011 Minot Treaty Compliance Office MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. -- For Air Force Global Strike Command's Minot Treaty Compliance Office here, the prospect of having Russians visit Minot Air Force Base is very real. Nonetheless, the office's three-person team keeps bombers and missiles here ready for foreign country inspections. Mr. Pat Travnicek, Mr. Dennis Mikula and Mr. Dave Bucknall make up the team responsible for ensuring the base complies with the specific treaty obligations that affect base activities and operations for the 5th Bomb Wing and the 91st Missile Wing. "The primary treaty affecting Minot AFB is the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or New START," Mr. Travnicek said. "But the base has also had roles in the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Moscow and Open Skies Treaties as well.'' Mr. Travnicek explained these treaties will more than likely require four, short-notice New START base inspections per year, but expects to receive two or three here locally. New START was implemented on February 5, 2011, and calls for the United States and the Russian Federation to significantly reduce its strategic arms. According to the White House fact sheet on New START, it includes aggregate limits on deployed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles, deployed submarine-launched ballistic missiles and deployed heavy bombers equipped with nuclear armaments. At Minot AFB this includes the Minuteman III ICBM and the B-52H Stratofortress. According to Mr. Travnicek, there are two types of inspection outlined in New START. A Type I inspection focuses on operational levels and the Type II inspection focuses on non-operational systems. When Russian inspectors come here, they will be conducting a Type I inspection to confirm the accuracy of the declared data on the number and types of deployed ICBMs or heavy bombers the base has. The U.S is scheduled to have seven years after the treaty entered into force date to meet the required numbers. "From the time we're notified the inspectors are coming to Minot AFB, the U.S. has 24 hours to get the team to the base and begin the inspection process,'' he said. "To accomplish these short-notice inspections, the office depends upon the support of all squadrons to ensure success of the inspection." He added the base support team composition changes depending upon whether it is a bomber or missile inspection. However, the squadrons that provide security, transportation, lodging, food services, and several others are always ready to go. To prepare for the visits and comply with the reporting provisions of the treaty, Mr. Travnicek and his crew monitor reports from higher headquarters while sending their own reports through these channels. In an average year, the Minot Consolidated Command Post will submit more than 450 of these messages. "There are 43 separate reports required under New START,'' he said. "In addition to receiving reports, we send out our own through the Command Post to report any movement of inspection items." With the B-52 participating in world-wide operations, the tracking of their movements is a 24 hour-a-day responsibility. The reports go through AFGSC, the Arms Control Enterprise system at Langley AFB, Va., and finally the State Departments' Nuclear Risk Reduction Center ,where it will be reported to our treaty partners. Col. Fred Stoss, 91st Missile Wing commander, said the Minot AFB Treaty Compliance Office is invaluable in making sure inspections at Minot run smoothly. "The Treaty Compliance Office here office provides us world class support whenever we are subject to a Missile Base New START inspection," said Colonel Stoss. "The Russian inspectors under old START have been very impressed by their enthusiastic professionalism and hospitality and I expect nothing less under New START." In addition to New START, the other treaties that affect Minot AFB are the Moscow and Open Skies Treaties and the Chemical Weapons Convention. The Moscow Treaty was implemented May 29, 2002, and under the treaty, both the United States and Russia have agreed to reduce their strategic warheads by almost two-thirds by the end of 2012. On January 1, 2002, the Open Skies Treaty was implemented, allowing signatory countries to fly over each others' countries to gather information about military forces and activities. The Minot AFB Treaty Compliance Office monitors the activities of all Open Skies missions that occur in the United States. The Chemical Weapons Convention entered into force on April 29, 1997, and prohibits the research, development, production, stockpiling, transfer, and the use of chemical weapons. Because of this convention, Minot AFB is susceptible to a challenge inspection, which would occur only if another country involved in the convention believes the United States is involved in the making of chemical weapons. The team of experts at the Treaty Compliance Office here will continue to ensure each time the Russians visit the base for an inspection, that it is a successful and strengthens confidence between the U.S. and Russia.