Former arms control inspector delivers presentations to Kansas City audiences

The CGSC Foundation and its Simons Center hosted the fourth lecture of the 2025 Distinguished Speaker Series at the Riverfront Community Center in downtown Leavenworth, Kansas on Sept. 24, 2025. In this installment of the series, Peter W. Pandolfi, Ph.D., a former treaty policy analyst, inspector and escort for the On-Site Inspection Agency (OSIA), conducted a presentation and discussion on “Implementing U.S. Arms Control Agreements,” a recently published book he co-edited.

The evening began with a reception, followed by Simons Center Director John Nelson welcoming the attendees and recognizing sponsors. Toward the end of the dinner period Nelson introduced Pandolfi.

Pandolfi’s personal experiences with verification of arms control agreements were the basis of the book he edited with Gilbert Bernabe and Herbert Cork. The details of how arms control agreements were verified has been mostly an untold story destined to die as the Cold War becomes more distant. Violations of arms control agreements properly command significant attention at the highest levels, but the successful implementation of these often complex and intrusive verification regimes frequently goes unnoticed.

“Implementing U.S. Arms Control Agreements” is told by some of the world’s leading experts on the subject — men and women who labored on the front lines of the on-site inspections (OSI) and related activities. The book documents the story of one of the key organizations in this historic struggle to constrain and, where possible, eliminate the weapons that continue to plague the human race and the world environment — the United States (U.S.) Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and its legacy organization, the U.S. Department of Defense On-Site Inspection Agency (OSIA).

Chapters of the book reveal many firsts for the reader, including documentation of the first American visits to many remote Soviet and Russian military communities and the reaction of those communities seeing Americans for the first time. Similarly, there are accounts of the Soviet inspectors’ visits to U.S. military sites and their reaction to U.S. stores and restaurants rich in goods and delicious food.

After the presentation and a Q&A period, Nelson presented Pandolfi with a gift in appreciation for his participation in the Distinguished Speaker Series. Pandolfi remained on-hand to sign copies of the book for attendees.

The next day Pandolfi conducted his presentation and discussion with the members of the Arter-Rowland National Security Forum at the Carriage Club in Kansas City.

For more photos see the CGSC Foundation Flickr album

 Peter W. Pandolfi, Ph.D., is a retired U.S. Air Force major and a former treaty policy analyst, inspector and escort for the On-Site Inspection Agency (OSIA). He spent 20 years in the U.S. Air Force as an intercontinental ballistic missile operations officer and 14 years as a program analyst in the Department of Homeland Security. He retired in 2016 at the GS-15 level. While in OSIA, he was chief of operations at the San Francisco Field Office and conducted inspections in the Soviet Union/Russia and escort missions in the United States. He supported Intermedia-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) and nuclear test treaties.

During his military career Pandolfi was assigned as a missile crew member at Ellsworth Air Force Base (AFB), South Dakota, an instructor at Vandenberg AFB, California, branch chief and special projects officer at Headquarters, Strategic Air Command, Offutt AFB, Nebraska, squadron operations officer of the 510th Strategic Missile Squadron, and subsequently squadron commander, then chief, of the plans and intelligence division at Whiteman AFB, Missouri. From Whiteman he was assigned to OSIA at the field office and then at the headquarters at Dulles International Airport, Virginia.

Pandolfi holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from West Virginia University, a Master of Business Administration from the University of South Dakota and a doctorate in education from Suffield University. During his military service he earned the Defense Meritorious Service medal and Master Missile Operations badge. In Homeland Security he has written reports on Transportation Security Administration (TSA) operations and briefed cabinet level officials in addition to Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He also testified twice before Congress on TSA effectiveness.

The CGSC Foundation through its Simons Center conducts the Distinguished Speaker Series (DSS) program to offer extracurricular, educational lectures intended to help enrich the Command and General Staff School curriculum and provide opportunities for outreach to the public. Topics covered in the Distinguished Speaker Series of lectures span the gamut of leadership and ethics, organizational effectiveness, collaboration, as well as current events and issues in business, government and the military. Programs are made possible in part by sponsors.

~ Thank you to our 2025 DSS Sponsors ~

~Five Stars~

Pritzker Military Foundation
The Tim and Karen Carlin Family Foundation

~Four Stars~

Julius Kaaz Construction

~Three Stars~

Col. (Ret.) Bill and Marge Eckhardt
First Command
Robert and Clare Powell

~Two Stars~

Armada Corporate Intelligence
Demaranville & Associate, CPAs
University of Kansas
Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Rich and Mary Ann Keller
Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Bill West

~One Star~

Advantage Printing
Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Stan Cherrie
Lt. Col. (Ret.) William and Kathleen Connor, Sr.
Col. (Ret.) Tom and Candy Dials
Art Fillmore
Geiger Ready Mix
Col. (Ret.) Bob and Terri Ulin