The Russians are about to get a better look at the U.S. nuclear arsenal than most Americans could ever hope to have.
Starting March 1, teams from the United States and the former Soviet Union will begin four months of inspections of strategic facilities - including some in Utah - to verify the missile and bomber counts they've given each other.At a Pentagon briefing Tuesday, Brig. Gen. Gregory Govan likened the process to "establishing the balance in your checkbook."
Inspectors from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine - the countries that inherited the Soviet Union's nuclear arsenal - will visit 36 U.S. missile, bomber and submarine bases, the test range at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and ICBM production fac-ilities in Utah.
U.S. inspectors will visit 65 similar facilities in the former Soviet Union.
To minimize the possibility of cheating, neither side will give advance notice before visiting a facility.
The inspection will establish what Govan called the baseline for reductions called for under the START I treaty that went into effect on Dec. 5, 1994. That agreement calls for reducing the arsenals to 6,000 warheads each from a current total of about 9,000 each. The reductions would be completed by 2002.
Govan said the inspectors will get a look at some of each country's closest-held secrets.
"It's a new world where we do share information with the - the partner, who used to be the person we were most intent on not sharing information with," said the general.
In fact, he said, it was information "we feel comfortable sharing on an official governmental basis with one another that we will not share with the public at large."
"Not because we don't trust the American public," he hastened to add, "but we don't trust the broader public that would then have access to the information."
Missiles and bombers pose different tasks for inspectors, said Govan.
"If you're inspecting bombers, you're actually counting bombers, and in some cases verifying on the ground that this bomber is in fact configured for delivery of a specific kind of weapon, a long-range nuclear air-launch Cruise missile or other armaments," he said.
Hercules operates two Utah sites that may be visited.
One which could be subjected to inspections any time after March 1 will be the Tekoi Test Range on the Goshute Indian Reservation in Skull Valley, about 50 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. Hercules has tested motors for Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missiles at the range.
"There is not much activity there now, primarily shipping and storage buildings, but checking it out is part of the initial, baseline inspection, designed to verify the numbers each side has provided at the talks," said Jerry Anderson, Hercules' program manager in charge of the treaty implement-ation.
The second site is Bacchus East, part of the 81-year-old Bacchus Works Plant 20 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, which is capable of manufacturing first stages of mobile ICBMs affected by the treaty.
"Starting in mid-May, we can expect Russians," said Lt. Col. Bill Irby, commander of the U.S. On-Site Inspection Agency's operation in Utah. "We don't make those ICBMs here, but if they need to inspect the facility, we are here to help."