DC Area Prep

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This was in today's Washington Post. Comments?

THE REGION Metro Expands Y2K Work on Computers

Metro's board of directors established a $5 million program yesterday to ensure that the transit agency's computer systems do not malfunction as a result of the Year 2000 glitch.

Metro began addressing the threat posed by the so-called Y2K problem three years ago with in-house personnel, and that effort is now more than 70 percent complete, officials said. But General Manager Richard A. White recently expanded the work to include a wider range of computer systems, requiring additional funding to cover work beyond the means of the agency's staff.

The $5 million will pay for consultants, hardware and software. Officials plan to brief the directors monthly on the work's progress.

-- Libby Alexander (libbyalex@aol.com), October 10, 1998

Answers

Metro will be compliant simply because it was never intended primarily as a civilian transportation system from its inception. Government agencies are the primary users of metro and it has a civil defense mission as well. What worries me living in the DC area is all the new "traffic" cameras put up on every federal highway in the area at half mile intervals on 70ft poles. These cams were installed and are monitored by Pacific Sierra Research Corportion which is a DoD contractor that specializes in Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Warfare. These cameras are not for traffic monitoring, although they can be accessed for that purpose by news stations etc. I do not know if I will feel safe in this area after a power shutdown on Jan 1,2000. The Pacific Sierra site (www.psrc.com) includes a map of Washington DC with something called a "tuleremia distribution" plume. Tuleremia is a biological warfare weapon. The map shows the release of tuleremia occuring at 395 and Duke Street and blowing over Rosslyn to NW DC. It shows the plume for innoculated and uninnoculated. As far as I know I am not iccoculated for tuleremia. I live west of town, but all that means is that some terrorist can release it at Manassas airport. Nobody will get sick for three days and then it's too late. I'm probably going to leave the city.

-- David Hiergesell (hierge@ix.netcom.com), October 13, 1998.

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