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Charles McWilliam
Born (1950-12-26) December 26, 1950 (age 73)
NationalityAmerican
EducationCalifornia State University, Fullerton (BS)
University of Nevada, Las Vegas (MBA)
OccupationEngineer
Known forLeading US nuclear tests and test verification negotiations with the Soviet Union.
Children4
RelativesRichard McWilliam (brother)

Charles E. McWilliam (born December 26, 1950)[1] is an American engineer and businessman. He started his career with the United States Atomic Energy Commission in 1974.[1] He served as the Test Operations director of the Nevada Test Site[2][3] and as a negotiator during the verification stage of the Threshold Test Ban Treaty.[4] He was also involved in the Non-Proliferation Experiment in 1993.[5]

Joint Verification Experiment

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McWilliam with Soviet scientists during their visit to the Nevada Test Site.
McWilliam (front row, center) with Soviet scientists during their visit to the Nevada Test Site.

The Joint Verification Experiment (JVE), aimed at developing means of verifying compliance with the Threshold Test Ban Treaty, was commenced in 1988.[6] At the time, McWilliam was the Test Operations director of the Nevada Test Site, managing the nuclear tests performed at the site.[7] Because of the intensive role that testing played in ensuring that compliance with the Treaty could be verified, he was engaged as a negotiator with the Soviet Union.[1]

While originally focused on providing technical expertise to the negotiations, he quickly developed credibility with Viktor Mikhailov, the Deputy Minister of Atomic Energy and Industry of the USSR and lead technical negotiator for the Soviets.[8] This led to Mikhailov requesting to negotiate primarily with McWilliam.[8] In this role as lead negotiator, he negotiated with Mikhailov and the Soviet team to construct a system for conducting joint US-Soviet tests. This proved difficult due to the contradictory requirements of maintaining national security while offering both nations enough information about the other’s nuclear tests that both sides could ensure verification.[9] During the JVE program, Soviet scientists oversaw a US test, while American scientists, including McWilliam, traveled to the Soviet Union to verify a Soviet test.[10][11] Eventually, these negotiations culminated in Touchstone Kearsarge, a joint US-Soviet test conducted within Operation Touchstone.[12] The result of McWilliam's negotiation of Kearsarge was that both parties obtained enough yield data about each other’s nuclear test sites that accurate remote measurements could be taken to verify each other’s compliance with the Threshold Test Ban Treaty.[6][11]

Personal life and education

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McWilliam was born in Pasadena, California on December 26, 1950.[1] His father was a businessman and Scottish immigrant. His mother was the daughter of a farmer from North Dakota. He attended Don Bosco Technical Institute for high school, where he developed a strong interest in science and technology. He attended California State University, Fullerton, graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering. Then, during his time with the Department of Energy, he obtained a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

McWilliam is married and has four children. In 1999, after retiring from the Department of Energy, he founded a building inspection company in Las Vegas with his wife.[13] He is an avid sailor, and spent fourteen years sailing around the world with his wife and son.[14] He is the brother of Richard McWilliam.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Interview with Charles McWilliam, January 11, 2005 | UNLV Special Collections Portal". special.library.unlv.edu. Retrieved 2022-04-08.
  2. ^ "Nevada Operations Office Contact" (PDF). United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
  3. ^ "Apocalypse Now _ Or Never? French Wonder What Nuke Tests Will Do". AP NEWS. Retrieved 2022-04-08.
  4. ^ DOE this Month. Vol. 14. Department of Energy, Public Affairs, Editorial Services Branch. January 1991.
  5. ^ Curtis, Steve; McWilliam, Charles (1994-05-01). "Lessons Learned as a Result of the NPE". Arms Control and Nonproliferation Technologies: 30. doi:10.2172/10145196. OSTI 10145196.
  6. ^ a b "Joint Verification Experiment | Doomed to Cooperate". lab2lab.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2022-04-08.
  7. ^ The INF Treaty: Hearings Before the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, One Hundredth Congress, Second Session, on the Treaty Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Elimination of Their Intermediate-range and Shorter-range Missiles. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1988. p. 437.
  8. ^ a b "Interview with Robert Nelson, June 30, 2004 | UNLV Special Collections Portal". special.library.unlv.edu. p. 30. Retrieved 2022-07-23.
  9. ^ "Interview with Charles McWilliam, July 9, 2004 | UNLV Special Collections Portal". special.library.unlv.edu. Retrieved 2022-04-08.
  10. ^ "Side-By-Side as Equals" (PDF). Los Alamos Science. 1996 (24).
  11. ^ a b Mikhailov, Viktor (2008). I Am a Hawk (PDF) (in Russian) (4th ed.). Институт стратегической стабильности Росатома. ISBN 978-5-7493-1287-4.
  12. ^ "Front-Row Seats for Soviet Scientists at Nevada A-Test". Los Angeles Times. 1988-08-17. Retrieved 2022-04-08.
  13. ^ "Criterium-Kessler Engineers Acquire Las Vegas Office". Criterium Engineers. 2021-10-25. Retrieved 2022-04-08.
  14. ^ "McWilliam Family Completes Circumnavigation". Latitude38. 2017-06-16. Retrieved 2022-04-08.
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