06 June 2000
(Early Warning, Data Exchange Accords Signed in Moscow) (720) By Susan Ellis Washington File Staff Writer Washington -- A senior Defense Department official told reporters June 6 that the shared Early Warning agreement signed by President Clinton and Russian President Vladimir Putin at their recent Moscow Summit meeting "is a step to strengthen strategic stability by further reducing (the) risk that an accident could result in a ballistic missile launch." Two Memoranda of Understanding (MOAs) are involved, the official said, one of which was concluded the week before the Summit. "This is the MOA dealing with the Joint Data Exchange Center and the provision on how early warning information will be provided to this Joint Data Exchange Center," he said. The second MOA addresses "a complementary part of Shared Early Warning, which is the intent of the United States and Russia to try to work out the arrangements of a pre-launch notification regime that could then be opened up very broadly to whatever countries wanted to participate." Speaking on background at a special Pentagon briefing about the Moscow Summit, the official said that the MOA on Shared Early Warning and the Data Exchange Center basically provides for the two countries to provide each other "with near real-time, continuous flow of information from early warning sensors." Launch time, launch point, rough direction of launch, impact point and time would be revealed as derived from these sensors, he said, adding that this information would be piped in by each side to the Joint Data Exchange Center, which will be located at a designated site in Moscow. "The two sides would take their own data and display it on a desktop computer-generated display on a screen on which both sides could monitor each other's information," he said. The idea is to permit both countries' personnel in the center to consult among themselves and with others in their respective governments to help resolve any ambiguities, the official said. He added that the Y2K Center for Strategic Stability in Colorado Springs, Colorado, successfully monitored "with good Russian cooperation" worldwide launches during the millennium rollover period. It set a precedent, he said, for the current activity. The joint center is estimated to open in about a year, after which there will be a three-month training period. The center will operate seven days a week, 24 hours a day, and continue for an indefinite period of time. "The president termed it as 'permanent,' which is a first," the official said. Approximately 16 U.S. military personnel will be permanently assigned to the center, including a colonel in command, he said. Two-person teams will work around the clock, with a couple of support people. The Russians are to provide the security and support, such as utilities, as well as a kitchen with cooks. The official said that the United States and Russia will equally share the $7 million cost of purchasing the land associated with the facility, an old school, and of renovating the building to make it appropriate for a joint military operation. In-kind payments are acceptable, he said, adding that, for example, "the Russians could provide the building and the land, and we would provide the renovation of it." He estimated that an additional $700,000 worth of equipment will be put into the facility by the United States. Asked if information eventually can be shared with the Russians on possible missile launches from rogue nations, the official said, "That will be done in what we call our Phase 3 of Shared Early Warning Implementation. "Launches greater than 500 kilometers in range -- of a ballistic missile for example -- that (are) in the direction of either party (and) that could be misinterpreted by Early Warning Systems, will be reported to each other." Asked if joint monitoring might not solve the dilemma of an accidental nuclear war, the official said that knowing and sharing cannot solve the problem, but that both Russia and the United States agree "that both sides should have decent early warning capability." He said the parties are not as concerned "about intentional launches" as they are about "misinterpreting events." (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)