U.S., Russia agree to form Y2K early warning center

The Defense Department Monday secured Russian participation in a special command center designed to help allay fears of an accidental nuclear launch due to computer failures related to the year 2000 problem.

Plans for the shared early warning center have been in place since last winter, but Russia had deferred participation because the war in Kosovo strained U.S.-Russian ties.

Russian Federation Minister of Defense Igor Sergeyev and Secretary of Defense William Cohen signed a joint statement of intent to establish the center, in which U.S. military officials will sit side-by-side with Russian personnel to monitor potential Y2K mishaps.

The center, officially named the Center for Year 2000 Strategic Stability, will be located at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo. It is expected to be completed by Dec. 1 at a cost of about $8 million, Defense officials said.

During the Y2K transition period, and through mid-January 2000, U.S. and Russian personnel will monitor data on missile and space launches and stay in voice contact with command centers in both countries. Other defense-related potential disasters, such as planes going off course, will also be monitored, DoD said.

This summer, DoD's strategic nuclear force held five end-to-end tests to evaluate nuclear systems for Y2K compliance and had no failures during any of those tests. Adm. Richard W. Mies, commander in chief of the U.S. Strategic Command, said the likelihood of an accidental nuclear launch was slim to none.

Both Russian and U.S. officials say nuclear command center computers will function fine after the date changeover, but still support the early warning center because of the potential consequences of not having such a facility if something did go wrong.

After January 2000, the command center will be used to train U.S. troops for duty in a permanent joint warning center that is to be set up in Moscow.