The Nation - News from July 17, 1988

Soviet inspection teams arrived at Army facilities in Texas, Oklahoma and Alabama to begin monitoring compliance with the U.S.-Soviet medium-range missile treaty that calls for destruction of Pershing 2 missiles. The visits under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces, or INF, treaty include verification of the number of missiles, launchers and support equipment. The visits were so-called baseline inspections to verify the location and description of Pershing missile hardware listed by the United States. Fourteen U.S. missile sites, training facilities and industrial plants are to be open to Soviet inspectors as the Soviet Union and United States begin the three-year process of destroying all medium-range and shorter nuclear missiles. Americans will examine 133 locations in the Soviet Union, East Germany and Czechoslovakia.