Here is an article from Reuters on the FAA Y2K testimony that was on C-SPAN Thursday. I got to see this on a re-run Saturday morning. I remember it being said that the international list that was referred to contained several popular vacation spots. And that there were 53 countries that had not reported as of August 31st. Now there are only 35 countries. Strange how when asked by Federal officials the number magically drops overnight (she gave the officals the data the night before so they could prep questions)because some of their winter vacation spots were on the list.

Here is the snippet:

Mead said that as of Aug 31, 53 countries out of 185 had not responded to ICAO, a United Nations organization based in Montreal. FAA later issued updated figures showing just 35 failures to respond.

FAA listed the countries as: Albania, Angola, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei, Burundi, Cambodia, Comoros, Cook Islands, Congo, Fiji, Guinea, Iraq, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho, Libya, Micronesia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nauru, Nicaragua, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Qatar, Russia, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Tajikistan, Tonga, Vanuatu.

Mead said the lack of information from certain countries, plus the absence of a U.S. policy on whether American carriers could fly to countries that have not resolved the Y2K problem, was creating significant uncertainty for international travelers at the year's end.

Mead is the Inspector General for the FAA.

-- dragoneyez (dragoneyez@mindspring.com), September 13, 1999

Answers

I saw the rerun too, and I believe Jane said (begrudgingly) that she would provide the list, but that 53 was the number - from June 30th I think - and it was probably less now. She was concerned that it was outdated (like the Navy report?) and wanted to make sure she had the most up-to-date figures before she turned them over. Still.. 35 is almost 20% of the 185 countries. And this is only the ones that didn't RESPOND. Doesn't mean the others are compliant, ready, or even close.

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), September 13, 1999.

Right. I just found it funny that she said that most of the countries were vacation spots. I liked that younger Rep. that asked the question. He asked it and wanted an answer not the usual run around and spin that she was giving the others. She was almost as good at evasion as Kosky was Friday on CNN online when I asked him what the criteria was that he used to determine that the Y2K problem was akin to a three day event (snowstorm, hurricane, earthquake, etc.). He avoided that question very well and kept up the 3 day thing. Never once mentioned where the criteria or the data was.

-- dragoneyez (dragoneyez@mindspring.com), September 13, 1999.

See also...

Y2K Global Warning: Russia, China, Japan, Italy Top List Of Countries To Watch (Federal Computer Week)

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id= 001OpS

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), September 13, 1999.