Y2K - AP White House Says It's Short-Term; REUTERS White House Says It's Chronic

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Two wires services, same story, different spins. Is it any wonder the public are confused...!

Friday, November 5, 1999

White House Reassures Public On Y2K

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House senior adviser on the Y2K problem is brushing aside doomsday scenarios and giving assurances that any computer-related problems with the arrival of year 2000 will be short-lived and minor.

``Overreaction by the public to real or perceived Y2K risks was in some ways our greatest challenge,'' John Koskinen told a joint House hearing Thursday.

Rep. Jim Turner, D-Texas, agreed: ``It's the myths about Y2K rather than the realities that could hurt us.''

Separating myths from realities was the theme of what may have been the last House hearing this year on the possible disruptions from computers that read only the last two digits of a year and could mistake the year 2000, or ``00,'' for 1900.

Koskinen stressed what most Y2K experts are now saying, that at least in the United States both the public and private sectors have moved aggressively to fix computers and there should be no serious disruptions of power, telecommunications, financial services or food supplies on Jan. 1.

There is no validity to doomsday claims that Y2K problems will cause nuclear weapons to launch themselves or that the federal government is using the issue as an excuse to usurp power, he said.

He said that another troubling myth is that the first of January is the all-or-nothing day and that people can declare victory if their computers are still working after that day. Businesses and companies are already addressing year 2000 dates in their operations and systems must be monitored to assure there will be no slow degradations in service after Jan. 1, he said.

Joel Willemssen of the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, agreed that there had been substantial progress at the federal level since the GAO in early 1997 identified Y2K as a high-risk area.

The Social Security Administration has led the way in preparing, while the Veterans Affairs and Education departments have made major strides after slow starts, he said. The Pentagon, the Internal Revenue Service and the agencies that oversee Medicare and aviation still have a few problems to work out and the states still have work to do in such areas as Medicaid, food stamps and child support enforcement. Education and the health care industry are other areas that demand attention, he said.

Ronald Margolis of the American Hospitals Association told the hearing that at least 95 percent of remediation work in the nation's hospitals is now complete, and that if there is any doubt about equipment it ``will be locked in a closet'' until it is fixed.

Among the realities, Koskinen said, are that major public services will work but there will be some problems. He said any disruptions ``will be short-lived, like temporary problems caused by storms.''

His office, the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion, has put out a preparedness checklist which advises people to have at least a three-day supply of food and water and keep copies of important records.

His office will operate an Information Coordination Center to receive status reports from the private and public sectors. It will begin 24-hour monitoring operations on Dec. 28.

At a conference on cyberterrorism, Richard Clarke, the National Security Council adviser who heads counterterrorism efforts, echoed warnings that the publicity surrounding the Y2K threat may be the biggest problem.

He said the nation's frenzy over the Y2K computer bug has made it even more vulnerable to cyber attacks. Technicians hired to make a company's computer system Y2K compliant could easily slip ``a little Trojan horse or malicious code'' into the system instead, he said.

[And here's the REUTERS account of the very same briefing...!]

U.S. Y2K Adviser Terms Glitch Chronic Reuters

Friday, November 5, 1999

President Clinton's chief adviser on the Year 2000 technology glitch warned the nation Thursday that Jan. 1 would not mark the end of Y2K-related concerns.

At the same time, a working group led by the Treasury Department voiced concerns about the Y2K readiness of key public and private institutions and the infrastructure of many countries including China, India, Russia.

The President's Working Group on Financial Markets cited concerns about small- to medium-sized enterprises worldwide, including in the United States, and about ``the financial sector in several small European markets'' that it did not name.

``One risk is the potential for a 'domino' systemic effect brought about by significant disruptions to these groups because of the Y2K rollover,'' said the working group, which consists of the Treasury, Federal Reserve Board of Governors, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Many of the countries that are least prepared for the Year 2000 are important energy exporters, said the report, prepared at the request of Rep. John Dingell of Michigan, the ranking Democrat on the House Commerce Committee.

ENERGY EXPORTERS THREATENED

``Any significant disruptions from the century date changeover that impact (the energy) industry locally could have a negative impact on the U.S. and global economies,'' the report said.

It cited Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Nigeria, Algeria, Indonesia, Turkmenistan, Malaysia, Uzbekistan, Nigeria, Angola, and Colombia as among energy exporters that ``may experience disruptions tied to Year 2000.''

John Koskinen, Clinton's Y2K czar, told Congress that one of the most troubling Y2K myths ``is the notion that January 1 is a seminal date on which everything, or nothing, Y2K-related will occur.''

In testimony to a joint hearing of House of Representatives subcommittees, Koskinen said Y2K problems ``can happen any time a computer that is not Y2K-compliant comes into contact with a Year 2000 date -- before or after January 1.''

Koskinen, chairman of the President's Council on Year 2000 conversion, said experts would have to monitor automated systems ``well into the new year for flaws in billing and financial cycles and possible slow degradations in service.''

``So I think it is important for the public to know that January 1 is just one of the important dates in the life of the Y2K issue,'' he said.

Koskinen said basic U.S. infrastructure was ready for Jan. 1, when unprepared computers could crash if they misread the last two zeros in the date field and mistake 2000 for 1900.

U.S. PERFECTION IMPOSSIBLE

But not every system will be fixed in time, ``and no amount of testing can ensure perfection,'' he said. He noted that a few federal agencies encountered glitches -- even in systems that had been fixed and tested -- when fiscal 2000 began on Oct. 1.

``We also expect failures in sectors where large numbers of organizations were late in starting or, even more troubling, are taking a wait-and-see approach,'' Koskinen said.

In separate testimony before the House panels, J. Patrick Campbell, chief operating officer of the Nasdaq stock market, disclosed plans for a public relations blitz designed to prevent any panic sell-offs as 2000 approaches.

The securities industry is taking out ads in major daily newspapers -- including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times -- in the next few weeks to ``separate Y2K fact from fiction,'' he said.

The text of the ad call on investors to ``stay invested for the long term,'' adding: ``We believe the market will continue to reward prudent investors with the patience to stick to sound investments over time.''

More quotes can be found on the 'New World Order Intelligence Update' Y2K Quotes page at

http://www.inforamp.net/~jwhitley/Y2KQUOTE.HTM

-- John Whitley (jwhitley@inforamp.net), November 05, 1999

Answers

stay invested for the long term "fools"..........! A little from each pocket is not as painful.

-- kevin (innxxs@yahoo.com), November 05, 1999.

Link please......... (thank you)

-- Bayou Boy (BayouBoy@bayou.com), November 05, 1999.

A version of good cop -- bad cop?

-- Ethyl Mermann (polliesneed@grip.now), November 05, 1999.

There's no business like show business...

-- Ethyl Mermann (polliesneed@grip.now), November 05, 1999.

Here you go - these are the links for each of the wire stories above:

http://www.mercurycenter.com/breaking/docs/043912.htm

http://www.businesstoday.com/techpages/y2kchronic11051999.htm

-- John Whitley (jwhitley@inforamp.net), November 05, 1999.



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