U.S. Readies Y2K Report Cards for the World

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It's September now...less than four months till January 1st. Y2K as a global issue affecting decision making just took one step closer:

http://infoseek.go.com/Content?arn=a2779reuff-19990901&qt=%22year+2000%22+bug*+glitch*+y2k&sv=IS&lk=noframes&col=NX&kt=A&ak=news1486

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), September 01, 1999

Answers

[Fair Use: For Educational/Research Purposes Only]

U.S. Readies Y2K Report Cards For The World

02:59 p.m Sep 01, 1999 Eastern

By Jim Wolf

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is about to grade more than 190 nations' readiness for the Year 2000 technology glitch in a move that could ruffle diplomatic feathers and dent economies heavily reliant on tourism.

The State Department plans to release Y2K report cards on virtually every country on or about Sept. 14, department officials said Wednesday. The move will cap a yearlong effort to swap data and spur action.

The tabs on perceived threats to key services will be issued as updates to U.S. consular information sheets, the State Department's guides to worldwide travel conditions.

By law, the department must notify U.S. citizens if it is aware of ``credible and specific threats'' to their safety and security, including Y2K issues that could disrupt power grids, aviation, telecommunications and other essential services.

The State Department guides, which also summarize health conditions, crime and security issues, are the ``first source'' to which travelers are referred, according to James Ashurst, spokesman for the American Society of Travel Agents in Alexandria, Virginia.

``Is there the potential for (State Department Y2K assessments) to impact people's travel decisions? Absolutely,'' said Ashurst, whose group counts 28,600 members in 170 countries.

The Y2K issue concerns possible mix-ups in automated systems when 1999 turns into 2000. Ill-prepared computers may shut down or spew bad data based on ``00'' in old two-digit date fields.

In August, U.S. diplomats notified perceived laggards of Y2K-related concerns that could affect U.S. residents and travelers, State Department Inspector General Jacquelyn Williams-Bridgers told a special Senate panel on 2000 technology challenges.

``The department hopes that approaching all countries now with this information will spur them to either correct the problems or to take remedial actions such as contingency planning,'' she said on July 22.

Williams-Bridgers, who has been monitoring readiness worldwide, predicted ``varying degrees of Y2K-related failures in every sector, in every region and at every economic level.''

In some unnamed countries, she said, ``there is a clear risk that electricity, telecommunications and other key systems will fail, perhaps creating economic havoc and social unrest.''

Officials monitoring the issue said readiness was improving daily around the world and cautioned against reading too much into the inspector-general's six-week-old assessment.

But in a possible foreshadowing of judgements that could strain diplomatic ties, Williams-Bridgers raised concerns about, among others, an unnamed European country ``which will be hosting many large-scale millennium events that will be attended by thousands of Americans.''

A U.S. embassy assessment in June voiced ``skepticism'' about the unnamed country's telecommunications sector's Y2K readiness because of a lack of information. The embassy assessment, she told the Senate panel, also ``noted that water and wastewater efforts were inconsistent, health care preparations were inadequate but finance was in good shape.''

Italy, apparently feeling itself bad-mouthed and worried about possible damage to its tourism industry, complained, State Department officials said.

``No country welcomes a bad report card by another,'' one official said.

But Washington is ready to blow the whistle on laggards notwithstanding any bruised feelings, John Koskinen, President Clinton's chief Y2K trouble-shooter, said in a recent interview with Reuters.

The State Department, he said, ``has a history'' of setting aside foreign policy considerations to warn against travel to specific countries when warranted.

The U.S. Y2K assessments are based primarily on reporting by U.S. diplomats with input from a wide range of sources, supplemented by work in Washington, State Department officials said. They said Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Britain will publish parallel advisories for their citizens on or about Sept. 14.

In her July 22 testimony, Williams-Bridgers said about half of the 161 countries then assessed were reported to be at medium to high risk of Y2K-related failures in their telecommunications, energy and/or transportation sectors.

The U.S. Y2K assessments can be accessed thought the Bureau of Consular Affairs home page at http://travel.state.gov.

Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

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-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), September 01, 1999.


Thanks Linkmeister. Anyone woh may possibly be traveling abroad during the rollover may want to read this:

You're on your own.



-- Deborah (infowars@yahoo.com), September 01, 1999.


Looking forward to 09-14-99, I wonder what "change of tune" State Department Inspector General Jacquelyn Williams-Bridgers will have now that she has won public support for being a "straight shooter with the public's interests at heart". Maybe another "happy face" report from a truthful(?) guv'mint official???????

-- cb (_@_._), September 01, 1999.

Wonder if any country is preparing a Y2K report card for the USA !!

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), September 01, 1999.


Also see this thread:

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=0019q1

"State Department official stands firm on Y2K dangers"

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), September 01, 1999.



Why don't they just type out Ita**y?

-- Dave (aaa@aaa.com), September 02, 1999.

They will do everyone they can to keep major industrial countries off of the report. Russia and China may be on it, but I believe they will keep the major western European countries off of it. You can bet that Koskinen and maybe Clinton will review it before it is released.

-- Dave (dannco@hotmail.com), September 02, 1999.

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