WASHINGTON (Agence France Presse) - Russia's early-warning
                 missile defense system is operating at a third of its full capacity,
                 increasing the risk of launch error, The Washington Post said
                 Wednesday. 
                   
                 There were two close calls in 1983 and 1995 in which false attack
                 signals were sent to Russian missile silos before they were recognized
                 as mistakes, Russian and Western security analysts told the daily. 
                   
                 Only three of nine satellites needed to monitor U.S. missile silos and
                 submarines are active, meaning that for several hours each day,
                 Russian military commanders are left blind to a possible attack, the
                 daily said. 
                   
                 The satellite network is deteriorating because financial problems have
                 prevented Moscow from replenishing the array of satellites needed to
                 keep its early-warning system in good working condition, said Paul
                 Podvig, with the Center for Arms Control, Energy and
                 Environmental Studies here. 
                   
                 Although the Cold War is over, Russia and the United States remain
                 on constant nuclear alert, threatening massive retaliation once enemy
                 missiles are detected in flight. 
                   
                 However, the threat of retaliation requires accurate early-warning,
                 and some Western specialists believe the growing gaps in Russia's
                 early-warning satellites have increased the risk of serious
                 miscalculation, because Russian commanders have less time to
                 decide if a launch report is real. 
                   
                 In 1983, the daily said, the Soviet system sent false signals of a U.S.
                 missile attack which lasted a few minutes before an officer on duty
                 deep inside a Soviet defense bunker recognized the mistake. And in
                 1995, a Norwegian scientific rocket set off a false alarm in the
                 Russian early-warning system that was reported all the way to
                 Russian President Boris Yeltsin, the daily added. ( (c) 1999 Agence
                 France Presse)