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Essential Command System At Risk For Y2K Failure

Computers/Internet News
Source: Defense Week
Published: November 1, 1999 Author: John Donnelly
Posted on 11/01/1999 05:37:57 PST by Stand Watch Listen

The computer system used by the White House and top commanders to plan and execute major military missions has not proven ready for 2000, the Pentagons inspector general said in a report released Friday. With two months until the new year, the audit raises important questions about the militarys preparedness to deal with the prospect that crucial computers could malfunction when their internal calendars roll over to 2000.

At issue is the Joint Operational Planning and Execution System (JOPES), used in peacetime and war to manage personnel and equipment including theater-level nuclear-war plans, the new report said. JOPES is an "essential mission application" in the Global Command and Control Systemthe militarys single, worldwide battle-management network.

"JOPES is the foundation of conventional command and control," the auditors wrote. "Therefore, it is a likely target for information-warfare attacks. It is imperative that the unified commands have complete operational contingency plans to allay the problems triggered by a JOPES failure caused by either Y2K-related problems or by information- warfare attacks." However, the report said, neither the Joint Staff nor commands in Europe, the Pacific, the Middle East and elsewhere have adequate contingency plans ready in the event the Y2K bug disables the JOPES system. The Joint Staff agreed and is formulating such a plan.

"Without complete operational contingency plans, the DOD ability to respond to military crises in a timely manner was reduced and there was increased risk that DoD will not have adequate alternative ways to quickly respond to combatant command requests for equipment and personnel," the report said.

The Pentagon has made great strides in tackling the Y2K bug. William Curtis, the Pentagons principal director for the Year 2000 program, said 99 percent of the militarys mission-critical systems are compliant. Moreover, given the new reports spotlight on the JOPES shortfalls, that system, too, will probably be made compliant, said Robert Lieberman, the assistant inspector general for auditing.

However, if the militarys worldwide battle-management network could pass muster while a core application is not compliant, it raises serious questions about how meaningful the positive compliance figures are, experts say. The inspector generals report begs the question: What else has fallen through the cracks?

Officials at the Defense Information Systems Agency, the Pentagons information-technology organization, think the report exaggerates the problem. Air Force Lt. Col. Intae Kim, the agencys chief engineer for the global command system, in a letter included in the report, said the problems "were well documented with work-arounds or fixes ...."

But Evelyn Klemstine, the inspector generals director of International Programs, says having a fallback option is not the same as certifying the system itself will work.

Klemstine also said JOPES was chosen for auditing because of its importance. In June, her team discovered that the militarys system for assessing the readiness of its personnel the Status of Resources and Training Systemwas also inappropriately certified as fixed. Consequently, the earlier report found, "the services ability to report unit resources and training in a Y2K environment was not assured."

John Pike, a military expert with the Federation of American Scientists, expressed concern when told JOPES was not compliant.

"JOPES is the application they use to run wars," Pike said. "Its the core application for figuring out whos supposed to be where, when. Its the application they use to plan everything worth speaking of," from joint exercises to peacekeeping operations to nuclear strikes in Korea or the Middle East.

According to the Oct. 27 inspector general report, the Defense Information Systems Agency certified the overall global command system as compliant without proper testing of JOPES, perhaps the systems most important single application.

"Just because your computer works doesnt mean every application does," said Klemstine.

"They havent fully tested the interfaces" between JOPES and several service systems that manage the deployment of forces, said Klemstine in an interview. "In addition, there is COTS [commercial-off-the-shelf] software in it that they know is not Y2K compliant ...."

Whats more, she said, "Our biggest problem with JOPES and the [global command system] is they keeping changing the configuration baseline." From one baseline to the next, 70 elements had been changed, she said. "How can you say its Y2K-compliant when you have so many revisions to your baseline?"

Curtis, the Y2K director, said in an interview that configuration management is a major focus of the Pentagons overall effort of late. The Joint Staffs fallback plan included use of the secret military Internet, secure faxes and phones.

But the plan "did not offer guidance on how to orchestrate operations" and didnt meet the criteria required for emergency plans, the report said.

As for the regional commands, the U.S. Central Commands plan "lacked the specific procedures to safeguard the joint operational planning function in the event of a Y2K-related disruption." Ditto for other commands. The U.S. Pacific Command plan "included using messengers with hand-carried information if all else fails."

Last July, Secretary of Defense William Cohen told reporters: "There is no question that on Jan. 1, 2000, and every day thereafter the Department of Defense is going to be ready." But in late September, the Senates special Y2K committee was far more skeptical. Of the Pentagons tardiness in fixing mission-critical systems, the panel said: "These late scheduled completion dates leave little to no time for schedule slippage or unforeseen events, which for [information- technology]-related projects are common."

The Senate panels conclusion? The Pentagon is at "considerable risk" of not meeting the Jan. 1, 2000, deadline. Y2K boss Curtis had not seen the JOPES report. But he gave Defense Week the latest overall figures: Fewer than 50 mission critical systems out of 2,414 still have to undergo "higher level testing"required exams that are more integrated and realistic than the system-by-system kind. The goal is to finish by Dec. 15, he said. Will that be enough time to solve problems? "The number of problems has been very small" in tests to date, he said, and mostly testers found a fix "pretty much on the spot."

Curtis said the Pentagon, which owns one-third of the governments computer systems and operates 600 installations worldwide, wants to make New Years Day "the largest non-event in history."

Referring to JOPES, Lieberman, the assistant inspector general, said: "Its a big system with lots of users and a lot of importance in a mobilization scenario. Due to its importance to the warfighters, Im quite sure management will turn to and put some extra emphasis on making sure they do everything that needs to be done."

More broadly, though, Lieberman does not expect all critical systems to be adequately tested by Jan. 1. And he expects failures. The key question, he says, is: Does the military have proper contingency plans in place to deal with the problems in U.S. systems or, more likely, breakdowns in nations that host allied forces? The question is open and will remain so for some weeks, he said. But if, and only if, the military tackles the problem as robustly as it has to date, all will be well, he said.

-- Helium (Heliumavid@yahoo.com), November 01, 1999

Answers

Can someone please wake me up from this f'ing nightmare?

Mike

who is in a mood.

=====================================================================

-- Michael Taylor (mtdesign3@aol.com), November 01, 1999.

See an exclusive picture of the CIC's JOPES workstation:

Y2K Command Central

-- (RUOK@yesiam.com), November 01, 1999.

Inspector General's DOD reports:

www.ignet.gov/ignet/internal/pcie/dody2k.html

R.

-- Roland (nottelling@nowhere.com), November 01, 1999.

OMG, if they have to babysit it at the highest most crucial level ``````````````````````

prepare to die

-- it's a given (the@end.here), November 01, 1999.

This story reveals potentially ominous problems.

Set spin cycle to high.

-- snooze button (alarmclock_2000@yahoo.com), November 01, 1999.

Before we all panic, consider:

(1) "An enemy should always underestimate your strengths and overestimate your weaknesses" -- something like that (I think it was in "The Art of War"). Either way, if the government has been pushing disinformation on its own citizenry, who's to say they're not pushing disinformation on everyone ELSE, too?

(2) If the US/Canada/England/Countries_We_Like wind up in pretty bad shape, isn't it probably safe to assume that the REST of the world will be in even WORSE shape? (Counterpoint: So maybe they'll figure they have nothing to lose -- and terrorists seldom attend diplomatic summits.)

Just a thought. Okay, NOW we can panic.

-- I'm Here, I'm There (I'm Everywhere@so.beware), November 01, 1999.

"Is the Whitehouse Command&Control Computer Toast?"

I think it's closer to an English Muffin with lots of holes in it.

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), November 01, 1999.

Since reading the oil threads yesterday, I have felt we are all roasty toasty. Might live as long as we have water... I used to think they'd get the water back on, but now, I think it's too complex. Oh well, this is only the body, guys, our impermanent selves. Luckily what it is that we really are is eternal.

-- Mara (MaraWayne@aol.com), November 01, 1999.

Time for Clinton to be impeached for abdication of duties.

-- aliens please abduct (flyover@white.house), November 01, 1999.

The more interesting question is whether the Big Brother W H computer is compliant. Who knows...if it crashes, maybe the FBI files go away and Republicans get their collective Manhood back!

Nah! The PC's were replaced with Mac's when this Administration took power in 1993.

-- K. Stevens (kstevens@ It's ALL going away in January.com), November 01, 1999.

Don't worry, the guy that invented the internet works there. He has some sort of big-shot job. He'll make sure it's fixed, right? After all, aren't our best and brightest in Washington?

[Big dummy mode off]

Tick... Tock... <:00=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), November 01, 1999.

First the Oil, then the IEEE, now this all in the past few days. We've all been warned last year the panic would pick up this fall. Looks like it's only us on this forum panicking...I've lost whatever optimism I had left the past few days.

"The inspector generals report begs the question: What else has fallen through the cracks?"

It begs the question with ALL reports from ALL industries.

Mike, wake up, it's for real, move!

-- Chris (#$%^&@pond.com), November 02, 1999.

cried in frustration

-- upsetting article (they're@really.that.stupid?), November 02, 1999.

Attention, pollie-dopes: Here big problem. Late in game. Facts. Read. Digest. Think.

-- look again (hard@evidence.catastrophe), November 02, 1999.