''The place will be crawling with police officers,'' -----Already making an excuse for a POLICE STATE

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

Reactors, missiles, cyber-attacks, cults, zealots, terrorists --Reuters

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/19991001/tc/yk_security_2.html

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - From Washington to Moscow to Beijing, governments are developing contingency plans for a wide range of security nightmares to prevent anything more dangerous than champagne corks from exploding on New Year's Eve.

Fears inspired by the Year 2000, or Y2K, technology problem include nuclear reactor shutdowns, missile false alarms and computer-generated strikes on electronic lifelines timed to coincide with what may be heightened high-tech confusion.

Many governments are canceling police leave to prepare for possible violence from apocalyptic cults, zealots predicting the end of the world or guerrillas gunning for targets that may seem more vulnerable than usual.

In London, where major millennial celebrations are planned, no police leave may be taken from December 30 to January 3. ''The place will be crawling with police officers,'' said Scotland Yard spokesman Frank Parker.

Australia has called off holiday-season leave for both federal and regional police until January 9, according to Tracey Dickerson, a spokeswoman for the Australian Federal Police.

``We're urging humanitarian and relief organizations to prepare for possible Y2K emergencies in which they may need to be deployed,'' Bruce McConnell, director of the United Nations-backed International Y2K Cooperation Center, said in an interview. ``We don't know whether this is going to be a one on the Richter scale or a seven.''

China has created a cabinet-level task force to respond to any Y2K disruptions, McConnell said.

Y2K coordinators from 22 Asian countries signed a resolution at a two-day meeting in Tokyo this week pledging further information sharing, and said they were getting set to handle ''the limited short-term disruptions expected.''

FEAR OF Y2K RIPPLE EFFECTS

There is a fear of ripple effects from the so-called Y2K bug. Starting on January 1, it may knock out unprepared computers and the operations they control -- including security safeguards.

Widespread system failures could open the door to ''opportunistic engagements by hostile forces'' -- sneak attacks -- the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff have warned military commanders.

The chiefs, in a September 10 memo obtained by Reuters, did not say who might strike during Y2K disruptions in the United States, the world's most technologically dependent nation.

But they told the five U.S. regional war-fighting commands to ``develop, promulgate and implement'' backup plans for what some officials fear could be a ticking global economic and security time bomb.

``We expect an increased level of malicious activity during the Y2K rollover,'' said Mark Montgomery, the White House National Security Council staff director for transnational threats.

``We think that some people may feel that we'll be distracted by minor infrastructure failures that may occur,'' he added in an interview.

Other U.S. officials cite concerns running the gamut from hackers to enemy countries to guerrilla groups. The White House is setting up a $40 million information coordination center, under the supervision of President Clinton's chief Y2K adviser, John Koskinen, to help policy-makers deal with any Y2K emergencies.

FEARS OF VIOLENCE BY FRINGE GROUPS

Michael Vatis, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation-led National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC), said Y2K may make it harder for the authorities to identify a deliberate attack.

``In some instances, it may not be immediately apparent whether a service outage is the result of the 'millennium bug' or a computer intrusion,'' he told a special Senate panel studying Y2K pitfalls. The NIPC was set up in 1998 to detect and deter attacks on critical networks such as those that run banking and finance, transport, electric power and water supplies.

The FBI ``expects to see increased and possibly violent activities among certain domestic groups related to the millennium,'' he testified on July 29. Vatis cited, among other threats, a fringe white supremacist view that the world is on the verge of a final apocalyptic struggle.

The faithful believe they must ``prepare for the Second Coming of Christ by taking violent action against their enemies,'' he said. The possible targets are Jews, non-whites and their supposed ``establishment allies, i.e. the federal government,'' FBI Director Louis Freeh testified.

In the past few years, governments and businesses around the world have spent hundreds of billions of dollars to prevent Y2K-related system failures.

Still, the glitch may hit some countries so hard -- notably in the former Soviet bloc at the height of winter -- that requests for humanitarian aid are possible, the Senate Y2K panel said in its final report last week.

Even without considering Y2K, ``risk experts calculate that the frequency of a core meltdown accident at a (Soviet-designed) RBMK reactor is approximately 100 times higher than at a typical U.S. nuclear power plant,'' Ken Baker, a deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Energy Department, told the panel Tuesday.

``The current year 2000 concerns are only a portion of our continuing concerns,'' added Baker, principal deputy assistant secretary in the department's Office of Non-Proliferation and National Security.

The problem stems from the use of two digits to represent years, like ``99'' for ``1999.'' Unless fixed, computers may read ``00'' as ``1900'' instead of ``2000.'' That could trip critical systems, including telecommunications and power grids, and confuse gadgets with embedded timing devices such as elevators, medical equipment and traffic lights.

Representatives of the G-8 industrial powers -- the United States, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada, Russia, Britain and France -- met in Berlin on September 21 for contingency planning in energy, telecommunications, transport and government services sectors.

FORMER COLD WAR FOES UNITE ON Y2K

The United States and Russia are ironing out details of an effort that will unite the former Cold War foes in a battle against potentially dangerous Y2K mix-ups.

The two countries -- which still have 2,500 nuclear-tipped missiles pointed at each other -- agreed this month to staff a temporary ``strategic stability center'' in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

From late December to mid-January, U.S. and Russian military personnel will sit side-by-side on a round-the-clock watch for missile and space launches. Drawing on data generated by U.S. satellites, they will use a Y2K-tested communications link to stay in touch with command centers in Russia and the United States.

The joint operation at Peterson Air Force Base, home of the U.S. Space Command, ``will reduce the chance that a turn-of-the-millennium computer error will create an end-of-the-year security incident,'' Defense Secretary William Cohen said in Moscow last month.

The operation is meant largely to soothe Russian nerves, especially if Y2K problems blind satellite and computer systems designed to warn Moscow of impending attack.

It will also let both sides talk through other events that could be ``destabilizing,'' such as an aircraft going off course due to a Y2K-related navigational error, the Pentagon said.

Russia and the United States each play down the possibility of Y2K failures in their most sensitive command and control capabilities, citing multiple safeguards.

But Edward Warner, assistant secretary of defense for strategy and threat reduction, said Tuesday that Russia and the United States had found Y2K problems in all but one of their seven Cold War-era ``hot lines'' and were rushing to correct them.

John Gordon, deputy director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, told a Senate Armed Services subcommittee on February 24 that the CIA and its 12 sister outfits were tightening their drills to keep up with events during the date change.

``We are preparing for the potential that there may be situations erupting worldwide,'' he said.

-- Jack (mercer@usa.net), October 05, 1999

Answers

Geezer,

You sound "anti-government" to me. Don't you realize your statements are causing panic?

It's very simple, people: we live in a free society. In order for it to stay free, we need to supress those who verbally undermine it. Think of it as the "hate speech" principle, applied to national security. You'll get used to it. And if you don't, you won't be around to spread your panic much longer.

-- Boot (boot@footstool.mil), October 05, 1999.


Jackboots are always the first on the throat of the 2nd Amendment, aren't we?

-- Boot (boot@footstool.mil), October 05, 1999.

"The faithful believe they must ``prepare for the Second Coming of Christ by taking violent action against their enemies,'' he said. The possible targets are Jews, non-whites and their supposed ``establishment allies, i.e. the federal government,'' FBI Director Louis Freeh testified."

Where the hell did he get that idea? I know that some Christians think there will be a Second Coming, but violent attacks? It's almost as though he is trying to incite riots and violence (as an excuse for martial law?) What an a-hole!

-- @ (@@@.@), October 05, 1999.


well all i can say is what george said "Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is Force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." George Washington

-- sandy (rstyree@overland.net), October 05, 1999.

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