By Linda Rosencrance

Deputy Secretary of Defense John J. Hamre said yesterday the Department of Defense is 99.9% ready for the year 2000 date rollover.

"The Department of Defense has invested immense effort and long hours to fix our systems and safeguard our security,"Hamre said in a statement issued yesterday.

Hamre said the Defense Department has spent the past six years fixing, testing and certifying the department's 2,101 mission-criticalsystems, including nuclear, logistics and communications systems, as well as 5,488 mission-support systems. The cost of the project totaled more than $3.5 billion.

"Not only have we tested our systems, but to ensure we can protect the nation's security, each system has a fully validated backup, or contingency, plan,"Hamre said in the statement.

The reason the department is not 100% Y2K ready is because two of its mission-critical intelligence systems haven't yet been fixed, Hamre said. However, Hamre added, those systems are not scheduled for use until May 2000 and pose no threat to national security.

The operations of all U.S. military facilities around the world were tested, and the 637 sites are now Y2K ready, Hamre said. In addition, the Pentagon building is also prepared for the date change to Jan. 1.

Hamre said $10 million of the total cost was spent ensuring that there won't be any problems with Russia's nuclear systems during the Y2Kdate rollover.

He also said the Defense Departmenthad developed contingency plans in the event a hacker tried to break into the department's systems during the Y2K rollover.

-- Mild Mannered Reporter (clark@super.duper), December 19, 1999