Canadian Operation Abacus explained...greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread |
Hi all!This is an older article, explaining Operation Abacus, the Canadian Forces Y2K contingency plan.
Among other duties, the military is charged with safeguarding national vital points, like Tim Horton's coffeeshops...
Brian (imager@home.com) would you pass my greetings to the Timmy's down by Her Majesty's Dockyards in Esquimalt please?
Military action plan released for Year 2000 problem Operation ABACUS calls for $386 million, 14 500 troops
26 February, 1999
In late January 1999 DND issued an advance version of its Year 2000 Contingency Plan. The plan, known as Operation ABACUS, outlines how the military would assist Canadians in dealing with the potential repercussions of the Year 2000 problem.
Three national Year 2000 exercises will prepare the CF to implement the plan if necessary. The first of these, Exercise JOINT START II, is a Joint Task Force Headquarters (JTFHQ) exercise designed to practice deployment, command, control and communications skills in a Year 2000 scenario. It will take place in Ottawa from February 27 to March 5, 1999. DND spokesperson Major John Blakeley said Exercise JOINT START II "is the first step in a series of exercises designed to ensure the CF is prepared to deal with any Year 2000-related calls for assistance should the need arise."
Colonel Charles Lemieux, Director J3 Y2000 from the office of the Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff said, "The role the CF will likely be called upon to perform would probably draw upon its command, control and communications, and logistics capabilities to provide services similar to those witnessed by Canadians during the ice storm of 1998. If we are required, it will be in support of government authorities who are developing their own contingency plans and wherever the need is greatest. We do not have the resources to cover the entire country at once."
Dubbed Operation ABACUS, the 190-page unclassified document is a military contingency operation plan built around the most likely scenario defined by military officials in terms of the potential for a disruption of Canadas essential services.
"Operation ABACUS strikes a balance between overreacting to the problem and being too little prepared for the operation," Col Lemieux said. "As the CF and DND plan for the arrival of the millennium, we are aware that the most likely impact of the Year 2000 is still unknown at this time."
The plan is based on a series of assumptions that will be reviewed regularly as more information becomes available and as the federal contingency plan is developed for the nation.
Military planners are working on the premise that during the first three months of 2000, DND/CF may be called in to help essential services deal with the unpredictable results of embedded computer chips shutting down or producing incorrect data after midnight on December 31, 1999.
The problems might impact on services such as public utilities, aircraft navigation systems or medical services. DND/CF officials will have some 14 500 Regular Force troops and about 4000 of its Primary Reserve troops on standby for rapid deployment. Once deployed, the troops will be self-sustaining.
Deployment could peak at 20 000 troops during the operation, which is expected to last three months.
DND/CF leaders are now starting to eliminate all non-essential national and international tasks and activities not related to Operation ABACUS. The pre-positioning of stocks in deployed missions will permit the cancellation of sustainment flights during the millennium transition period so aircraft and other resources can be used in support of Operation ABACUS
The 1 Canadian Division Headquarters, located in Kingston, will serve as National Joint Task force headquarters for the militarys five regions.
Right now the incremental cost of implementing Operation ABACUS is pegged at $386 million. Military officials said this figure could increaseit may also decrease as more becomes known about the ramifications of the so-called millennium bug.
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And now you know...
-- (Kurt.Borzel@gems8.gov.bc.ca), November 24, 1999
So sorry!Here's the link:
http://www.dnd.ca/op_abacus/abacus_e.htm
-- (Kurt.Borzel@gems8.gov.bc.ca), November 24, 1999.
Thanks Kurt--We often either look at the immediate proximity, or the extremely remote regions with regards to possible consequences from Y2K. Your wonderful country seems so tranquil, so quiet,(French Quebec excluded) that we tend to take it for granted. We have had many posts concerning Canadian remediation efforts. Yours is one of the apparent success stories, but no one will/can know for sure until that fateful day.. eh? ..(;^}`
I remember the heroics of your embassy at the inception of the Iranian hostage crisis. How the Canadians took in members of our embassy and hid them from the Iranians. Great stuff, great neighbours. I had the privilege of driving a group of Drum and Bugle Corps kids from Canada throughout the West coast tour to shows that year. I can tell you, the welcome and kindred feelings were something to behold as the kids took the field in each city. As you know, all Americans are not responsible for the wrongs of big business or big Government.
Hope to see you at RENDEZVOUS neighbour!! Yahoooo!!
Michael
-- Michael (mikeymac@uswest.net), November 24, 1999.
Kurt, don't make it to Esquimault to much but if I do I will mention it.Here is a more detailed look at what they planned to do from the Industry Canada testimony during May. Also more info on the link (Q&A stuff.
Mr. Paul Thibault (Federal Coordinator, Y2K National Contingency Planning, Department of National Defence): I'll be doing that, Mr. Chairman.
The Vice-Chairman (Mr. Eugène Bellemare): Before you start, I'd like to mention the committee is quite proud of the Canadian Armed Forces and we congratulate you for all the good work you've been doing here in Canada as well as abroad.
Mr. Paul Thibault: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
During my last appearance here last November, I believe, I promised I would be back to give you a progress report.
[English]
Since last November the national contingency planning group has been established. Through a questionnaire developed, delivered, and compiled through federal departments, we have now developed the first preliminary risk assessment.
I must stress here that the information we received was from both the private sector and the provinces and territories. In return, we have already shared the preliminary results with the provinces, in particular. We've also begun work on requesting contingency plans from federal departments and agencies, and we're in the process of developing scenarios for testing during the summer months.
If you'll permit, let me start by talking to you briefly about the national infrastructure risk assessment. This is a preliminary examination of Canada's critical infrastructure, assessing the probability of failure by progress against timelines. In essence we are doing two things. We are assessing operational sustainability or compliance on a June 30 deadline, and business continuity planning, or where agencies or sectors are with regard to contingency plans, based on a September 30 horizon.
Overall, even with the information gaps, our first preliminary assessment looks good. But I must stress that even at this stage, we can't afford any slippage. It is still relatively early because the information we're assessing is based on dates that have not yet passed, and the first date is June 30.
The second point I'd like to make is that the risk assessment is based on self-assessment data. In other words, the information is as good as the information we are provided. As we collect more data, a more accurate assessment will be possible, and undoubtedly we'll have the best possible picture in November. We will be updating this assessment regularly, and we'll be touching with you today on six major infrastructures. They are utilities, services, transportation, safety, communications, and territorial integrity.
I will now begin with utilities. All are on schedule, including electrical power systems, water purification, sewage treatment, the natural gas industry and the oil industry. The overall assessment, therefore, is that they are on schedule for both compliance and contingency planning for all sectors. As you will have seen, the North American electrical reliability council reports that Y2K transition is expected to have a minimal impact on the electric systems operations in North America.
The second area is services. Most are on schedule. In those we include emergency services, both RCMP and provincial police, fire, ambulance, 911, postal servicesthat's Canada Postmeteorological services and financial services. A few, however, are behind schedule: hospital health care, the food industry, courier services and municipal police. Let me touch on each one of those seriatim.
First, on health care, there are no surprises here. There's been a fair amount of media attention, but again the results we have are preliminary. It does not mean that the industry cannot be ready for January 1. What it does mean, however, is that they may not meet either the June 30 or September 30 target dates, leaving little time to deal with problems that may arise in testing. I must tell you, however, that the majority of health care systems are on schedule for contingency planning purposes.
Health Canada's presently surveying, through the provinces, the hospitals in Canada and administering a provincial survey for other health care facilities. Those include nursing homes, long-term care and things of that nature.
The food industry is slightly behind schedule in compliance and contingency planning. In a sense this can be attributed to the complexity of the industry. As you know, the industry involves not just primary production but processing, transportation, distributing, warehousing and retailing in food services, as well as imports and exports.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada have a program to work with stakeholders to address the year 2000 issues. However, when we talk about the food industry, I would like to just mention that the Gartner Group, which you've all heard of, says the severity of any potential failures, as experienced by consumers, is likely to be on the level of a disturbance rather than anything else.
On courier services other than Canada Post, larger companies are behind schedule. Smaller companies are waiting to react to an emergency if necessary. In essence, it supports the findings that smaller companies are more likely to be behind schedule.
On municipal police, we do not yet have the information available for the preliminary report, but we're hopeful we'll have it for the next update.
[Translation]
I will now go to the transportation sector. For most of the services, the schedule is being respected whether for air transportation, navigation, maritime navigation, maritime traffic, security, flood fighting, marine environment protection or search and rescue.
However, for some services, the work is a bit late or progress to date is unknown. That includes airport services, rail transportation, road transportation, ferries, marine transportation and port services. If you don't mind, I'll review each one of these sectors.
First, airport services which basically include runway maintenance, runway lights and passenger handling and everything going on inside the terminal such as luggage handling, ticketing and so forth are a bit behind schedule for Y2K, which is June 30, but their record is better on the emergency planning side.
Railway transportation is slightly behind schedule for conformity, but the schedule is being respected for emergency planning.
As for road transportation and road infrastructure, in other words roads, bridges, tunnels and signalling systems, they are on schedule.
For trucking, urban transportation and bus services, we don't have any information yet.
As for ferries, in some cases, they're on schedule and in others they are a bit behind for conformity as for emergency planning.
As for maritime transportation, they're on schedule in certain respects and they're behind in others.
The port services are behind schedule for conformity but ahead for emergency planning.
I'd now like to address security. Most services are on schedule. This includes nuclear security, hazardous products, customs and federal jails.
Concerning buildings, the major buildings are on schedule but the smaller the building, the more behind they are. This agrees with the general observation made concerning the state of affairs for small and medium businesses.
In the case of provincial jails, we don't yet have any preliminary information available, but future updates should provide some.
As for communications, telecommunications
[English]
are on schedule. The public radio and television broadcasting industries are on schedule and reach 99% of Canadians. Cable television systems range from ahead of schedule to slightly behind.
The last sector is territorial integrity, which includes the air defence identification zone and the 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone. There we will be able to face any Y2K challenges that may arise.
In the next phase we'll be trying to fill the gaps where we do not yet have the information and updates on changes in progress. We'll be identifying interdependencies between the different sectors. We'll be proceeding with contingency planning for the federal departments and agencies, and we'll be developing a validation exercise to assess the ability of contingency plans to mitigate any potential risk to the national infrastructure.
In conclusion to what I've outlined, I don't think, from anything you've seen or heard before, it's a surprise to you that this is quite an unprecedented challenge and quite a complex task. The only thing that's certain is the fixed deadline.
We've established in our operation three conditions for success. The first is collaboration, which I'm happy to say we have received from both the private sector and the provinces and territories. The second is to sustain the momentum needed in this task, and the third is to focus on back-up planning or contingency planning, which is an essential component, given the uncertainties we may face.
Canada is ranked among the world leaders in Y2K readiness, as you know, but we must continue the pace to maintain our standing.
I will, of course, be pleased to return to you at a later stage, to answer any questions you have regarding what we have already. I can come back in September or whenever with a further update.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
[Translation]
The Vice-Chairman (Mr. Eugène Bellemare): Thank you, Mr. Thibault. Does General Henault have a presentation?
Lieutenant-General Raymond R. Henault (Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff, Op ABACUS, Department of National Defence): Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a presentation and then Vice-Admiral Garnett, Mr. Thibault and I will be available to answer your questions.
[English]
In my statement to you last November 19, I provided a general overview of DND's year 2000 contingency plan, known as Operation ABACUS. You will recall that the aim of Op ABACUS is to be prepared to assist federal, provincial, and territorial authorities to mitigate the impact of year 2000 disruptions on essential services, as mentioned by Mr. Thibault, while continuing to fulfil essential national and international tasks.
[Translation]
My presentation described, in general terms, the Op ABACUS plan and its flexible response capability. You were also informed that the planning at the operational level had been assigned to the headquarters of the 1st Division, in Kingston, to the regional headquarters of the Land Forces and the North Sector of the Canadian Forces and that the training priority of the Canadian Forces in 1999 was focussed on Op ABACUS and training in preparation for Y2K.
[English]
Since our last appearance in November, Op ABACUS planning has progressed significantly. Today I'll provide you with a description of the Op ABACUS concept of operations and sustainment plan, as published in the advanced version of the operations plan on January 6. I'll then describe to you the CF Y2K training direction I issued on February 25, and then describe some of the principal Op ABACUS messages that we have been communicating to Canadians, as the final theme of my presentation.
As background material, you've also been provided with copies of the Op ABACUS plan backgrounder and the Canadian forces year 2000 and Op ABACUS training directives.
The main operational concerns of Op ABACUS, and therefore our priority of effort in the Canadian forces throughout this year leading up to the employment phase are as follows.
Our first concern is to establish situational awareness throughout the millennium transition period for the rapid collection and analysis of information and the development of a national perspective on the impact of year 2000 on Canada's national infrastructure. This will be done through a reliable command, control, communications and liaison structure, and will permit Canadian forces personnel to be employed where the need is the greatest, as determined by government.
Our second concern is to ensure the operations, maintenance and security of CF infrastructure, the administration and logistics support of deployed CF personnel, and general support to military personnel and their families.
Third is to assist law enforcement agencies with their tasks, not unlike the way we assisted during the ice storm of January 1998.
Fourth is to provide humanitarian assistance to civil authorities if and when requested, with the priority, from our point on view, of saving lives and preventing suffering.
In support of the DND-CF priority of effort, the Op ABACUS concept of operations is based on the following broad elements.
For the operational command and control of Op ABACUS forces, approximately 1,500 headquarters personnel will support the joint task force headquarters, the five regional headquarters, and the liaison elements required at each of the provincial capitals. We estimate that approximately 15% of the personnel will come from our primary reserve force.
Mobile personnel, with a capability to operate away from their garrisonsthat is, away from their primary baseswill be drawn primarily from our three regular army formations in Valcartier, Petawawa and Edmonton. Canadian Forces personnel in the tactical helicopter squadrons, ships at sea, air transport squadrons, and other CF specialist units will also form part of our mobile forces. The total number of mobile personnel will be approximately 13,000, which can be augmented by reserve force personnel, as I've described previously. Mobile personnel can perform both assistance to law enforcement agencies and humanitarian tasks.
And finally, static forces or those units that maintain the operational effectiveness of the Canadian Forces infrastructure, including support to the command, control, and communications infrastructure itself, will have a capability to generate personnel to respond to requests for assistance in their local communities. We see a large number of primary reserve personnel, as well as remaining CF personnel, those who are not employed on the mobile forces, in this category of force.
[Translation]
It is important to add that a great number of civilian employees with essential abilities will be employed as support for Op ABACUS during the transition.
During the transition to the new millennium, the members of the Canadian Forces will continue to be assigned to essential tasks such as search and rescue, support of the continental defence of our aerospace and our shores as well as strategic air transport. At the same time, some 2,800 members of the Canadian Forces will be deployed for missions abroad including the one in Kosovo. We have an equivalent number of Canadian Forces members in Canada who will prepare to deploy overseas for a total of 5,800 members of the Canadian Forces deployed outside the country or preparing for it. The number of soldiers deployed, especially abroad, always has a direct impact on the total number of mobile teams.
The planning hypotheses for Op ABACUS have led us to the elaboration of an action plan to support what we call the most probable scenario. This scenario is defined, as Mr. Thibault mentioned, as being the potential of disturbance to those services essential for Canadians as opposed to a total shutdown of those services.
[English]
That is, the most likely scenario represents a disruption to essential services, not a complete collapse of those services.
[Translation]
In this regard, the Canadian Forces and the Department of National Defence support plan is based on the setting up of necessary resources over a set period of time. It is supposed that during the first three months of the year 2000, the Canadian Forces might be involved for some 30 days. If the national estimate of risk predicts the need for a higher rate of activity for the Canadian Forces, an increased support capacity of up to 60 days will be planned.
For example, during the January and February 1998 ice storm, that we still all remember, Canadian Forces personnel was deployed over a period of some 30 days and approximately 16,000 members of the Canadian Forces were engaged at the crux of the operation. This included some 800 members of the First Reserves of the Canadian Forces.
[English]
In addition, we've estimated the incremental costs of Op ABACUS. The CF will be able to absorb some of the Op ABACUS incremental costs by eliminating non-essential tasks and dedicating most of the training for the Canadian Forces in 1999 to year 2000 and Op ABACUS readiness. Based on current planning assumptions, we estimate the incremental cost of Op ABACUS to be about $386 million. Approximately 20% of this estimate relates to costs associated with the preparation phase, which we are currently in, while 80% of the estimate relates to the actual employment of forces based on the enhanced activity rate of 60 daysthat is, the longer-term employment requirement.
Now turning to the training directive and the validation exercises, the major challenge facing the Canadian Forces during our year 2000 training program is of course to keep the Canadian public informed of our intentions and to provide the context of Op ABACUS training.
The CF's year 2000 training directive issued last February, as I mentioned earlier, provides commanders with guidance and the national perspective required to maintain the balance between CF training activities and the Op ABACUS planning assumptions.
As an example, here are a few of the year 2000 training objectives as outlined in that directive: to certify the readiness of our mission critical systems; to maintain effective communications in a year 2000 degraded environment; to validate CF contingency plans; to practice the approval process for requests of for assistance to provincial or territorial authorities and to other federal departments; to exercise the decision-making process; to exercise the decision-making process required to set priorities for assigning CF resources at both the regional and national levels of command; to practice the development of CF communication strategies to inform civil authorities of our CF intentions; and to exercise the procedures required to generate forces for deployment outside the country on or after January 1 in support of our deployed missions.
[Translation]
The commanders of the Canadian Forces are aware that the planning is done in partnership with the federal and provincial authorities and agencies and that, together, they will provide the most appropriate response to emergencies due to the year 2000. Training is of a routine nature; it is based on the ongoing training, abilities and knowledge of the Canadian Forces. During the exercise cycle, the next exercise will be happening here in Ottawa, from 31 May to 4 June, 1999. The main training audience will be regional headquarters of Op ABACUS. The Op ABACUS national validation exercise, which will be the next one, will be undertaken from 13 to 17 September, 1999.
[English]
Finally, in terms of communications, with the release of the advance version of the Op ABACUS plan and the start of Op ABACUS training, we met with the media on both occasions to explain the state of our planning and our training intentions. We explained that the Canadian Forces are preparing for any year 2000 eventuality and will deploy if called upon to do so. This could mean deploying very limited resources catering to very specific technical or specialized tasks, or, indeed, deploying in large numbers to respond to more demanding requirements.
We explained also that CF personnel are not the first line of response to civil emergencies. CF personnel in fact do not fix essential services; rather, they support those who do. That certainly was the case during the ice storm, as an example. Therefore, the Op ABACUS plan complements other federal, provincial, and municipal contingency plans.
As CF resources are limited, it's essential that expectations be managed, from our point of view, to ensure that provincial and municipal authorities fully understand the Op ABACUS concept of operations. Our close working relationship with civil emergency planning and the personnel associated with that planning is ensuring that they are able to consider CF capabilities in their own planning and their own development of contingency plans.
In particular, we will have mobile forces that will be held in reserve to ensure that they are employed where the need in the country is the greatest as determined by government. These mobile forces may also be required to redeploy rapidly to other affected areas of the country once civil authorities have been able to stabilize the situation. You will note that the majority of forces will be employed in the static role and will ensure the continuity of CF operations and the security of CF installations so that we can provide the best possible support as required.
[Translation]
In conclusion, the Y2K bug is an unprecedented occurrence which could potentially affect all areas of the world. Its impact could be worsened by other situations, natural or otherwise, that will happen during the transition to the year 2000. The Canadian Forces will be ready to respond to demand with the most appropriate measures.
Mr. Chairman, that concludes my preliminary remarks.
-- Brian (imager@home.com), November 24, 1999.