Not mincing any words here. Wonder what that says about the DoD's Y2K endeavors.

Just... a thought.

Diane

(Now watch the flames).

JUNE 17, 1999 . . . 15:17 EDT

Contractors' software 'crap,' says top DOD IT official
BY BOB BREWIN (antenna@fcw.com)

http://www.fcw.com/pubs/fcw/1999/0614/web-crap-6-17-99.html

[Fair Use: For Educational/Research Purposes Only]

The Pentagon's top information technology official sharply criticized, in the plainest possible language, the quality of software that IT contractors currently supply to the Defense Department.

"The quality of software we're getting from vendors today is crap," said Art Money, senior civilian official, who is acting as assistant secretary of Defense for command, control, communications and intelligence.

"Vendors are not building quality in," Money said today at the GovTechNet International Conference in Washington, D.C. "We're finding holes in it."

DOD buys hundreds of millions of dollars worth of software each year, including everything from shrink-wrapped packages designed to run on the desktop to customized systems running millions of lines of code.

The quality of much of the software that DOD is receiving is so poor, Money said, that he is worried about the future of the U.S. software industry. Money predicted that if the U.S. software industry does not get its act together, it could suffer the same fate as the U.S. automobile manufacturing industry, with software sales moving offshore to Japan, for example.

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), June 18, 1999

Answers

JUNE 15, 1999 . . . 16:33 EDT

DOD preps for possible cyberattacks brought on by Y2K
BY BOB BREWIN (antenna@fcw.com)

http://www.fcw.com/pubs/fcw/1999/0614/web-cybery2k-6-15- 99.html

[Fair Use: For Educational/Research Purposes Only]

The Pentagon has started to develop plans that would shut back doors that hook its global networks to the Internet in case cyberfoes try to use any Year 2000 computer date code snafus to mount a cyberattack.

Marvin Langston, deputy assistant secretary of Defense for command, control communications and intelligence, declined to estimate the possibility of such a cyberassault. He said the Pentagon has started to develop contingency plans to protect its networks at the end of the year in case "cyberattackers try to mask themselves in the confusion."

"We want to be able to close down our back doors," said Langston, speaking at GovTechNet, a Washington, D.C., conference sponsored by FCW and the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association.

Langston said hacker Web sites and discussion groups have mentioned seizing the opportunity to launch cyberattacks against DOD by using any computer or network that may be malfunctioning because of Year 2000 problems.

DOD "has to be prepared to deal with it," Langston said.

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), June 18, 1999.

Good for them for thinking in advance! Hope it's advance enough. Crappy software via another c3i. How encouraging. TSHTF once again. Diane, you've got the bloodhound nose! This week is Yes $#!+ Sherlock!

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), June 18, 1999.

Donno. Maybe I'm seeing too many dots or mils or something.

How many "...assistant secretary of Defense for command, control, communications and intelligence," or c3i types are there versus c4i types?

And why is there another one at...

Clinton's new Y2K Co-ordination office: ICC

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id= 000xlS

[snip]

...Koskinen has appointed retired Army Lieutenant General Peter Kind as director of the ICC. Kind has broad experience in communications, computer, acquisition, logistics, and maintenance support. He was the U.S. Army's Director of Information Systems for Command, Control, Communications, and Information Systems from 1992 to 1994. ...

[snip]

This is all pretty puzzeling for civilians.

Sheesh!

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), June 18, 1999.

Hi Ashton & Leska!

It's so confusing! Up until last week I had never heard the terms... c2i, c2, c3i, c4i... etc.

Now, they're cropping up all over the place.

Why? I ask.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), June 18, 1999.

No it ain't! We seeez the pattern plain as day. We gone Andy on this one.

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), June 18, 1999.

I have to agree with the guy. An awful lot of what I see for new software is crap. But that isn't a Y2K problem, but an ongoing problem in procurement - one that I could really do without. It would make my life a whole lot simpler if they would leave off about 50% of the software 'bells and whistles', and go for making the stuff that was left work correctly.

(See, and here everyone thought I would never agree with anything Diane posted! ;) )

-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), June 18, 1999.

Nice find Diane, and the beat goes on....the beat goes on!

-- Will continue (farming@home.com), June 18, 1999.

Good job Diane.

I see Art's on the Money with this one.

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), June 18, 1999.

whatever happened to the mysterious c41'last week?? told some to check there e-mail.

-- al-d. (catt@zianet.com), June 18, 1999.

He'll be back. This place is addictive ;^)

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), June 18, 1999.

LOL Paul... amazable! Huh?

That's why I prefer a Mac too.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), June 19, 1999.

Ashton & Leska,

He said "he'd" be back... i.e. the "real" c4i anyway. Should be interesting... again.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), June 19, 1999.