O Canada! (A Few More Details)

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Y2K bug prompts defense concerns in Canada By Spencer E. Ante

SAN FRANCISCO (Wired) - Responding to concerns that Y2K-related failures could lead to widespread civil unrest, a top Canadian military official last week told a group of reservists that the Year 2000 bug is now the nation's top defense priority.

The disclosure, made by Brig. Gen. Walt Holmes to a group of Toronto-area reservists, comes two months after the Canadian minister of National Defense officially announced the military's plans to prepare for the millennium bug.

Under a scenario known as Operation Abacus, defense troops may be called upon to provide humanitarian aid and guard Canada's critical infrastructure in the wake of a Y2K-related disaster, such as a power blackout.

In the short term, the military will seek commitments from local reserves to guarantee a timely response to whatever calamities may occur when computer clocks roll over to the year 2000. The nation's defense department is also considering the stockpiling of food and generators.

Eggleton said the military's computer systems must continue to operate, and that his department was preparing a contingency plan that would assist local authorities in the case of civil emergency.

But senior U.S. military officials and defense experts say the Canadians and the rest of America's allies are dragging their feet on Y2K.

``I imagine there's been some communication between the U.S. and Canadian military recently and the U.S. has told the Canadians to 'Pull up your socks, for chrissakes,''' said Arnaud de Borchgrave, an analyst and member of the Y2K Risk Assessment Task Force with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

In NATO meetings held as recently as this summer, Borchgrave said Canada's military admitted that they had neither money designated, nor plans in place, for Y2K.

``However, Canada is behind but not as far behind as the French, Germans, or Italians,'' he said. U.S. military officials estimate that their allies are lagging 18 to 24 months behind schedule.

``I'm startled to see how little thought our allies have given to the security aspects of Y2K,'' said John Hamre, the deputy defense secretary and the military's pointman on Y2K. ''We've had limited success with other NATO countries. Europe's NATO allies are giving the euro currency priority over Y2K compliance, which is not even seen as a security issue in Europe.''

Even though the Canadians have upgraded Y2K's priority, it won't come at the expense of other missions considered high priority. That means, for example, that the 1,319 Canadian troops helping to enforce the Dayton accord in Bosnia-Herzegovina will be given the same level of support before, during, and after Y2K.

However, military officials admit that many normal operational and support functions may have to be scaled back or stopped to focus resources on Operation Abacus.

On paper, at least, Abacus is an ambitious, five-phase plan. The first phase is mostly logistical work as top commanders assess the situation and present contingency plans to provincial authorities. Phase two will involve actually taking troops through various Y2K disaster scenarios and conducting command and control exercises with both local and federal authorities. Phase three will be the actual deployment of troops as December 1999 draws to a close.

The last two phases go into effect after the millennium: The troops execute their duties, assisting law enforcement agencies and humanitarian groups and safeguarding the infrastructure as necessary, then ``demobilize'' and return to their normal duties.

``The end of the state of Abacus occurs when Year 2000 related effects have diminished to the point where civil authorities are capable of providing essential services and the potential for requests for (military) assistance has abated,'' says the military's Y2K planning document.

Williams said that, despite this plan, the government hasn't been doing enough to prepare the country for the coming millennium.

``I know so many people that don't have a clue about computers and they're running the show,'' he said. ``It's not in the public consciousness that computers (can) fail.''

(Reuters/Wired)

-- Gayla Dunbar (privacy@please.com), October 14, 1998

Answers

I said it before and I'll say it again - we are further ahead than anyone.

-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), October 14, 1998.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Don't mean diddly. When time is called, there won't be any prizes for being further along the rest of the class. In fact, if the rest of the class isn't finished, it doesn't matter if you are! Thats Y2K, completely different from our (normal/national) way of thinking.

-- Jack (jsprat@eld.net), October 14, 1998.

Jack:

If we ain't all "finished" when time is called we are all finished.

-- sweetolebob(La) (buffgun@hotmail.com), October 14, 1998.


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