Operation QUESTION

International Information

International Operation Name: Operation QUESTION

International Mission Name: Operation QUESTION

Mandating Organization: Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe - Vienna Document

Region Name: Europe

Mission Date: 4 March 1992 - Present

Mission Mandate: To promote stability, transparency and openness in military affairs through the application of a range of Confidence and security building measures.

Mission/Operation Notes: In 1986, NATO, Warsaw Pact and other interested European nations signed the Document of the Stockholm Conference. This document contained confidence- and security-building measures (CSBM) designed to reduce the chances of accidental initiation of a conflict. Under the banner of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (now renamed Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) CSCE members continued talks that led to the signing of the Vienna Document on 17 November 1990. The Document came into force on 4 March 1992, with subsequent amendments made in 1994 and 1999.

The Vienna Document sought to achieve greater stability, transparency and openness in military affairs through the application of a range of Confidence and Security Building Measures. The CSBM of the Document are not as restrictive as those of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE Treaty). The terms of the Document apply to all of Europe as well as the Asiatic states of the former Soviet Union.

Under the Vienna Document, nations can lead or participate in three types of missions: evaluations, inspections or confidence and security building measures (CSBM). The CSBMs include airbase visits and the viewing of major new equipment demonstrations or the viewing of major military exercises. The format for the missions is simple and flexible, creating a more open and cooperative environment.

Canadian participation is under the name of Operation QUESTION. Canada has led or participated in over 90 evaluations, inspections and CSBMs. Of these, two-thirds have been CSBMs.