Evening star., 1963-01-22
Test-Bon Outlook

AS far as the Russian proposals are
concerned, there seems to be little or
nothing new in the December January
exchange of letters between Premier
Khrushchev and President Kennedy on
the question of working out treaty to
outlaw nuclear tests. Fresh Anglo
American-So talks to that end are
in progress here, but past experience
cautions against expecting them to lead
swiftly to'a mutually satisfactory agree
ment.
Actually, in terms of negotiations,
the road ahead still looks long and tor
tuouS. At any rate, Mr.. KhruShchev's
letters, though conciliatory in tone, ap-
pear merely to reaffirm past indications
of the Kremlin's willingness to allow a
yearly total Of two or three on-Site in
spectionS in the USSR to enable the
West to check on suspicious earth shocks
that might be clandestine underground
detonationS of fiSSion or fusion devices.
In addition, the letters express the
Kremlin'S readiness to set up-aS a sup
plement to the existing network of sta
tions manned by Soviet nationals
three automatic seismic stations" (the
So-called black boXeS) that supposedly
would be tamper-p proof and subject to
international monitoring
AS the Presidents letter intimates,
however, Mr.. KhruShchev'S rather vague
proposals still fall far short of provid-
ing policing adequate enough to insure
that the test-ban treaty would be gen.
timely trustworthy. In that respect, the
Soviets have yet to make any major
concessions to the West. BY way of con-
trast, our side has done much more than
meet them halfway. Thus, although
within the recent past our Government
was insisting upon the establishment of
19 international control posts on Soviet
soil, plus IL to 20 on-site inspections
each year, now our negotiators appar-
emily are prepared to accept a substan-
TALLY looser system that would greatly
minimize the policeman's role and take
lot Of things on faith.
This system would have no inter-
national posts in the USSR. Instead, it
would rely largely on our improved
American detecting setup, seismic sta
tions in countries like Japan, Pakistan
and AfghaniStan, an annual total of
to 10 on-Site inspections, and network
OF "black boxes considerably more Of
them than the three proposed by Mr.
Khrushchev. Clearly, since it is quite
possible to tamper with these boxes, and
since or 10 inspections seem very few
in relation to the many earth tremors
that occur in the vast stretches of the
Soviet Union, we and the British appear
ready to negotiate teSt-ban treaty that
would involve a large calculated risk,
possibly an excessive one.
Even so, speaking for the United
States, Secretary Of State 'Rusk has de-
clared that as result of the Khru-
shchev-Kennedy exchange, 1--WE are en-
couraged to believe the way is now open
to some serious talks. Let us find out If
we can go further" One has only to read
the text of the letters to realize that the
technical, political and other problems
nvolved-including that of extending
the projected ban to actual and
potential nuclear powers like France
and Red China-remain difficult in the
extreme. But the effort to solve them
and get a workable treaty is nonethe-
less imperative and urgent.
Certainly the testing must be
stopped sooner or later. That is an eS-
sential first step toward putting an end
to an ever-accelerating arms race whose
continuance could suddenly explode
into an almost unimaginable catas-
trophe and abomination for all man
kind.