Pentagon Weighs Enlarging Nuclear Surveillance Program

The Defense Department is mulling an expansion of a system that essentially eavesdrops on the environment for indications of foreign nuclear tests.

The Air Force Technical Applications Center's atomic monitoring system digests seismic, infrasonic, and hydroacoustic data to help verify blasts. A potential new contract would "provide the platform for future system growth and enhancements," according to an industry solicitation issued on Wednesday

The system, housed at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida, was launched in 1999 to check international compliance with nuclear test ban treaties

The impetus for the proposed enlargement of the program could be nuclear threats from "Iran and North Korea, technological opportunity, an agency wanting to improve its capabilities, or all three," said Jeffrey Richelson, senior fellow with George Washington University's National Security Archive. Read more...