Clinton Says Y2k Won't Hamstring U.S

Updated 4:04 PM ET November 10, 1999

By Jim Wolf

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Clinton predicted Wednesday that banks, air travel and other vital systems would sail into the new year but his Y2K chief warned that up to half the country's 911 emergency services may be unprepared.

"While there is more to do, I expect we will experience no major national breakdowns as a result of the Year 2000 date change," Clinton told reporters on the White House south lawn.

But the president also said that some local U.S. governments, small organizations and developing countries must hurry to complete their preparations for Y2K, as the problem is known.

Clinton spoke after his Y2K advisory council released its fourth and final quarterly report, warning that schools, smaller health care providers and up to half of local 911 emergency services might be unprepared.

In the survey, the chairman of the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion, John Koskinen, called the computer reprogramming task "the greatest management challenge the world has faced since World War II."

Clinton said he was confident the federal government and key industrial sectors were ready for Jan. 1, when unprepared computers may crash or malfunction if they misread 2000 as 1900.

"When it comes to financial services, power, telecommunications, air and rail travel, leading organizations report they have completed or nearly completed all their Y2K work," Clinton said. "I am confident the Y2K problem, therefore, will not put the savings or the safety of the American people at risk."

But the council said only 50 percent of 911 call centers confirmed last month they were ready, raising the risk that emergency calls to firefighters, police and ambulance could be slowed down in some places if automated systems fail when the clock ticks over.

"We must continue to reach out to smaller organizations and local governments whose preparations are lagging behind," Clinton said.

"If we work together and use this time well, we can ensure that this Y2K computer problem will be remembered as the last headache of the 20th century, not the first crisis of the 21st," he added.

The federal government is spending about $8.6 billion to prepare for Y2K, including about $3.8 billion at the Pentagon. U.S. businesses have spent an estimated $50 billion, according to Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve.

The council's report found the U.S. federal government had completed work on more than 99 percent of all of its "mission-critical" computer systems and that the others would be ready by Jan. 1 or alternative arrangements will have been made.

Clinton said this meant the public "can have full faith that everything from air traffic control systems to Social Security payment systems will continue to work exactly as they should."

The council's report found most large U.S. trading partners were in good shape, but Clinton said: "We still have concerns about the Y2K preparations of some developing nations" that he did not name.

The Central Intelligence Agency and State Department have predicted that Russia, Ukraine, China and Indonesia are among those that may suffer "significant failures."

"It is also worth noting that not every Y2K problem will be evident on Jan. 1," Koskinen said in his summary of the report. "Difficulties in systems that are not Y2K ready may not surface until days or weeks after the date change."

Koskinen told reporters that 911 computer failures would not prevent the authorities from responding to emergency calls, though they could slow help if people had to take over a task that had been automated.

All but seven systems had indicated they would be ready by year's end, he said, adding that he did not have the names of any of the seven because of the form in which survey data was returned.

The Washington-based Center for Y2K and Society, a private group working to curb the impact of the computer glitch, said Clinton was overly optimistic.

"Because of continuing problems with medical facilities and programs such as unemployment, child support, and food stamps, the persons now most likely to be harmed by Y2K are those least able to protect themselves: children, the poor, the elderly and the sick," Norman Dean, the group's executive director, said in an e-mail reply to a query from Reuters.

He said the White House should take stronger action in the remaining 51 days to help prepare for "those Y2K failures that inevitably will take place."

====================================== End

51 days to go and our illustrious leader has finally spoken!!

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), November 10, 1999

Answers

A guy like this, ya gotta believe, right?

;-(

MFU

-- Man From Uncle 1999 (mfu1999@hotmail.com), November 10, 1999.

Earlier Story:

Clinton Says Y2k Won't Cause Big U.S. Failures

Updated 11:23 AM ET November 10, 1999

By Jim Wolf

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Clinton said on Wednesday that he expected key U.S. economic sectors and the national infrastructure to be spared any big failures caused by the 2000 computer glitch.

"While there is more to do, I expect we will experience no major national breakdowns as a result of the Year 2000 date change," Clinton told reporters on the White House lawn, accompanied by John Koskinen, head of the President's Council on Year 2000 conversion.

Clinton spoke after the council released its fourth and final report on the giant computer reprogramming task that it called "the greatest management challenge the world has faced since World War II."

"When it comes to financial services, power, telecommunications, air and rail travel, leading organizations report they have completed or nearly completed all their Y2K work," Clinton said. "I am confident the Y2K problem, therefore, will not put the savings or the safety of the American people at risk.

But Clinton noted the council's concerns about some lagging small businesses, local governments, smaller health care providers and up to half of local 911 emergency services.

"Now, over the next 52 days, we must continue to reach out to smaller organizations and local governments whose preparations are lagging behind," he said.

"If we work together and use this time well, we can ensure that this Y2K computer problem will be remembered as the last headache of the 20th century, not the first crisis of the 21st."

The federal government has spent about $8.6 billion to prepare for Y2K, a design flaw that could keep computers and the automated systems they control from recognizing the "00" in date fields as 2000 rather than 1900 or some other year.

The council's report found the U.S. federal government had completed work on more than 99 percent of all "mission-critical" computer systems.

Clinton said this meant the public "can have full faith that everything from air traffic control systems to Social Security payment systems will continue to work exactly as they should."

The report also documented near completion of work in critical infrastructure areas.

It found most large U.S. trading partners were in good shape, but Clinton said: "We still have concerns about the Y2K preparations of some developing nations" that he did not name.

The Central Intelligence Agency and State Department have predicted that Russia, Ukraine, China and Indonesia are among those that may suffer "significant failures."

"It is also worth noting that not every Y2K problem will be evident on Jan. 1," Koskinen said in his summary of the report. "Difficulties in systems that are not Y2K ready may not surface until days or weeks after the date change."

====================================== End

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), November 10, 1999.

Isn't it nice to know that when Clinton speaks about y2k, we suddenly ban together as a society and believe him.

-- Larry (cobol.programmer@usa.net), November 10, 1999.

OK... this moves me .25 point up on the "doom" scale. (laughter) For most people, if President Clinton told them water still ran downhill, they'd run to the faucet and check.

-- Ken Decker (kcdecker@worldnet.att.net), November 10, 1999.

Looks like the big MEDIA push is finally upon us now. CNN is doing a 5 part series next week on Y2K. Don't miss the spin coming to a media outlet near you.

-- y2k dave (xsdaa111@hotmail.com), November 10, 1999.

....... and I did NOT inhale and I did NOT have sex with that women errr those women.

-- the Virginian (1@1.com), November 10, 1999.

Every time he says something with force and conviction, I think "I did NOT have sexual relations with that woman!"

-- Ha Ha (ha@haha.com), November 10, 1999.

Every time he says something with force and conviction, I think "I did NOT have sexual relations with that woman!" The more conviction, the less I believe him.

-- Ha Ha (ha@haha.com), November 10, 1999.