http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/10/28/MN78338.DTL

Russia to Join U.S. at Command Post to Prevent Y2K Nuclear Debacle

New York Times Thursday, October 28, 1999

Russia and the United States have agreed on the final details for a special command post in Colorado to insure that potential year 2000 computer glitches in either nation's missile warning systems do not lead to an accidental launching of a nuclear warhead.

After suspending cooperation to protest the U.S. bombing of Yugoslavia this spring, Moscow relented and has agreed to cooperate on the command post at Peterson Air Force Base, in Colorado Springs, where Russian officers will sit side-by-side with U.S. colonels to read data flowing in from U.S. radar sites and satellites around the world.

``We'll be feeding the data straight back to Russia, and the Russian officers will be in direct contact with their leadership back in Moscow,'' said Air Force Maj. Perry Nouis of the U.S. Space Command.

The post will be ready in November, and 20 Russian officers will arrive for duty on December 22, Nouis said.

The final details on the joint operation were worked out in September, when Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev signed a statement of intent with Defense Secretary William Cohen to set up the Joint Strategic Stability Center during the year 2000 transition period.

Last year, the Pentagon reviewed all of the potential Y2K problems that Russia might encounter and decided that the greatest danger lay with the country's deteriorating early warning system. In the worst case, Russia's outdated computer technology might send a false alarm that the country was under attack, leading to a quick nuclear retaliation, according to Defense Department officials and Russian nuclear experts.

``Russia is on a hair trigger with a very short period of time to assess information coming from their radars and satellites, which are notoriously unreliable,'' said Bruce Blair, an expert on Russian nuclear command at the Brookings Institution. ``We don't want that to happen, and we want them to have an alternative source of information.``

Peterson Air Force Base is in the shadow of Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center, where the United States tracks missiles around the world through radar and satellites. The highly classified information will be fed into the new center for Russians and Americans to view together on large monitors 24 hours a day, seven days a week at least through the middle of January, officials said.

No other country will be involved in the joint center, because Russia and the United States are the only two countries that operate elaborate satellite and ground radar systems to track missile launchings worldwide.

The joint center at Peterson Air Force Base could continue through the spring if both countries believe that computer problems remain unsolved.

)1999 San Francisco Chronicle

-- Uncle Bob (UNCLB0B@Y2KOK.ORG), October 29, 1999

Answers

Sheesh!!!!! And just whatizzit you are implying with this quasi- factoid post? The U.S. and Russia cooperating to avoid a computer- simulated nuclear armageddon and you "Doomers" all go do the duck and cover routine. This is contingency plannign pure and simple. there is no TEOWTWAWKi here.

-- -- (_@_._), October 29, 1999.

Hey, --@, or whatever you call yourself, get a clue. Uncle Bob is just posting an article, that's it. Where do you get this "TEOTWAWAKI" stuff from? Are you related to Y2K Pro by any chance?

-- You're Clueless (youreclueless@getaclue.com), October 29, 1999.

@- Why are you jumping all over Uncle Bob? I believe this was meant to be GOOD NEWS, and pertinent to y2k. Not a mention of TEOTWAWKI that I can see.

-- Gia (laureltree7@hotmail.com), October 29, 1999.