WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and Russia have found potential Year 2000 glitches in all but one of seven Cold War-era ``hotlines'' and are rushing to correct them, a top Pentagon official told Congress Tuesday. Assistant Secretary of Defense Edward Warner, together with colleagues from the Energy and State departments, outlined a U.S. drive to help Russia cope with Y2K-related disruptions. In testimony to the Senate Special Committee on Y2K, Warner said the Clinton administration was giving Moscow Y2K-compliant software and computers to correct ``program deficiencies in outage reporting, monitoring and channel reroute operations.'' http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/19990928/ts/yk_hotlines_1.html Tuesday September 28 4:13 PM ET U.S., Russia Working On Y2K 'Hotline' Glitches By Jim Wolf WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and Russia have found potential Year 2000 glitches in all but one of seven Cold War-era ``hotlines'' and are rushing to correct them, a top Pentagon official told Congress Tuesday. Assistant Secretary of Defense Edward Warner, together with colleagues from the Energy and State departments, outlined a U.S. drive to help Russia cope with Y2K-related disruptions. In testimony to the Senate Special Committee on Y2K, Warner said the Clinton administration was giving Moscow Y2K-compliant software and computers to correct ``program deficiencies in outage reporting, monitoring and channel reroute operations.'' The Defense Department is seeking to meet about $15.5 million in Russian requests for things like emergency generators, fire trucks, warhead handling vehicles, radios and backup communications, Warner said. Citing safety concerns about the 68 Soviet-designed nuclear power reactors in Russia and eight other former Soviet bloc states, Deputy Assistant Energy Secretary Ken Baker said: ``The worst enemy is time right now.'' He said Energy Department experts were working bilaterally and through groups like the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency to fix Y2K vulnerabilities in Russian and Eastern European nuclear reactors. The Y2K glitch stems from the use of two digits to represent years, like 99 for 1999. Unless fixed, computers may read 00 as 1900 instead of 2000. That could trip critical systems, including power grids, and lead nuclear plants to shut down if they lose ``off-site'' backup power. Among other things, U.S. experts were urging plant operators to start diesel generators a day or two before New Year's eve to ensure adequate backup power for reactors if power grids failed, Baker said. PREVENTING ANOTHER CHERNOBYL The ultimate goal, he said, was to prevent the highly remote danger of a meltdown like that at Ukraine's Chernobyl No. 4 reactor in 1986. The U.S. government has deemed enhancing the safety of Soviet-era nuclear reactors ``a vital national security interest,'' he testified. State Department officer John Beyrle said Russia, pinched for cash, may experience Y2K-related problems for ``months'' into 2000. ``It will be prudent to view post-Y2K Russia ...as a country that may continue to rely on the U.S. and other countries for help in overcoming computer-related disruptions,'' he said. Senator Richard Lugar, Republican of Indiana and a panel member, noted that despite current congressional probes of alleged official Russian corruption, the issue appeared to be not if the United States should help Russia but how quickly Y2K help could arrive. Committee Chairman Robert Bennett, Republican of Utah, and Vice Chairman Chris Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, urged the administration to waste no time in crafting responses to possible Russian post-Y2K travails. To avoid misunderstandings during the date change, the United States and Russia agreed on Sept. 13 to set up a joint ''Center for Y2K Strategic Stability'' at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In addition to sharing missile launch information, Russian and U.S. officers staffing the post will be able to talk through any defense-related problems that emerge during the calendar rollover, Warner said. ``Assured communications between U.S. and Russian leaders is a priority at all times, and of particular concern over the millennium date change,'' said Warner, who is responsible for strategy and threat reduction. NUCLEAR-TIPPED MISSILES The United States and Russia each keep roughly 2,500 nuclear-tipped missiles pointed at one another on hair-trigger alert despite the collapse of the old Soviet Union in December 1991 and the end of the Cold War. They began installing the seven direct communications links, popularly known as hotlines, in 1963 to guarantee immediate communication when needed. Among them are direct links between the two presidents; between the secretary of state and the foreign minister; and a data link between nuclear risk reduction centers on both sides. A secure link also is key to operations of the temporary Center for Y2K Strategic Stability. The precise nature of the other Moscow-Washington ''hotlines'' may be classified, Warner told Reuters. He said a ``critical'' Y2K-related issue was the security of Russia's nuclear stockpiles, which the United States has spent millions to keep safe from guerrilla groups. ``Of special concern are the security systems in nuclear storage sites affecting access control ... fire detection and suppression and warhead inventory and accountability,'' he said.