This is a re-post. The info. from my last one must have gotten deleted; I saw it here earlier.

Go to this URL: http://pdq2.usia.gov/

ENTER: Y2K in the search and 100 reports, transcripts etc. will come up. The first one is entitled "Transcript: Abrams Cites Industry-government Y2K Cooperation"

Here are four interesting paragraphs from page 4:

>Also, we are working through our Federal Emergency Management Agency >to reach down to state emergency management officials and local >emergency management officials to get them prepared. > >In addition to getting them to become Y2K compliant with their own >systems, we need to get them prepared for the unique experience that >we may all encounter in 12 months because this will not be business >as usual in the emergency response world. > >We may have a situation of lots of small disruptions across the >country -- a small utility, a power plant out, a water purification >plant out in another community. > >These are situations that in usual times you might be able to call >on the state or the federal government to help solve, but we are >stressing to our local officials that they're going to have to take >care of these problems on our own.

The last paragraph makes me just a little nervous. Several times in the transcript she mentions the fact that state, county and city systems are not nearly up to snuff when it comes preparedness. Then she gones on to make the above statement ".....we are stressing to our local officials that they're going to have to take care of these problems on our own."

She says to expect multiple simultaneous outages: "lots of small disruptions" (no large ones mind you!)...a utility here, a power plant there, water purification somewhere else.

This statement doesn't make sense to me. And exactly were are the Federal and State Emergency agencies going to be that they can't come help? One would have to assume they are dealing with bigger problems; kinda makes me feel a little uneasy. She describes it as a "unique experience for the emergency world". Interesting way of putting it.

What's your take on it?

-- Anonymous, December 31, 1998

Answers

Meg, when you wrote "One would have to assume they are dealing with bigger problems", I think you've assessed the situation correctly. One very telling subject of Ms. Abrams' report which doesn't seem to have drawn much attention is her mention of what can only be termed "conscripting" teams of experts. This is mentioned in two different areas of the report. The first mention is:

"...an effort "unprecedented in scope" will begin to look at the whole United States to find out what companies or organizations are at highest risk. "We are really asking industry to do something that I don't know if the government has ever asked them to do, which is to work with us to identify people within their industries who have very important skills that could be brought to bear at other organizations who are in trouble, or at other states, or potentially in other countries,"Abrams said. "So we are going to be calling upon these industry leaders to help provide part of their skilled work force to be available to help others in need," she added.

Now, if we keep in mind the government propensity to downplay potential Year 2000 problems, and watch carefully the words used to describe their efforts in addressing these "small disruptions", we discover some BIG contradictions. These "small disruptions" are being planned for by "an effort unprecedented in scope" and they are "asking industry to do something that I don't know if the government has ever asked them to do.." Any readers should be asking themselves why "small disruptions" need this unprecedented in scope response - not to mention why the government considers it necessary to ask major corporations to help them form what amounts to technical swat teams.

The second mention of these mitigation teams is further down the report:

"We're calling it the Senior Advisors Group to the President's Council on Y2K. And we will have chief executive officers of major corporations representing each of the key industries on a panel. They will meet every six to eight weeks. And one of their responsibilities with our council will be to consider how best to pull together teams that can go out and do mitigation work if we find out there's an absolutely critical resource or entity, a company, a service provider that has to be ready, and we find out they're not ready. Maybe in advance of 2000, they'll go out."

It's my opinion that anyone who carefully questions the contradictions Meg and I have both found in this report, will come to the conclusion that our government is not as confident as they try to appear about the ability of critical infrastructure components to be "Y2K Ready" in time, nor are they planning for "small disruptions".

I win a bet with my husband because of Ms. Abrams' report. Last year he said he would not be surprised to see a "computer professionals draft". I responded that I didn't think there would be a draft when all the government would have to do is ask major businesses to "volunteer" some of their people "for the good of the country". (Who could turn them down and not appear unpatriotic?) It would appear that's exactly what is in the works.

Finally, the phrase "unprecedented in scope" which Ms. Abrams uses to describe the government efforts only makes sense if the basic premise is that the Year 2000 problem is "unprecented in scope" also. This in itself rather puts paid to any "little bump in the road" position. And the plan to form (conscript, borrow, whatever word you want to use) "mitigation teams" from the corporate workforce certainly makes it sound like a Y2K War, not a little inconvenience.

I personally would suggest that any high-level experienced programmers/embedded engineers, etc. in the corporate work force make sure they have preparations for their family's safety in place since from Ms. Abrams' statements, they may be out traveling with a government mitigation team during and after the rollover. This is getting very serious, folks.

-- Anonymous, December 31, 1998

Bonnie, Rick and utility guru's:

It sounds to me like Ms. Abrams might be talking about you guys. It won't just be nerds they are looking for. They'll be recruiting people from all industries; utilities must be at the top of the list. I know the goverments of the world are putting together international "SWAT" teams that will descend upon any country experiencing serious disruptions - to help in all areas of infrastructure. Don't forget to send us your new E-mail addresses.

>And we will have chief executive officers of major corporations >representing each of the key industries on a panel. They will meet >every six to eight weeks. And one of their responsibilities with our >council will be to consider how best to pull together teams that can >go out and do mitigation work if we find out there's an absolutely >critical resource or entity, a company, a service provider that has >to be ready, and we find out they're not ready. Maybe in advance of >2000, they'll go out.

-- Anonymous, December 31, 1998

This topic spans at least two forums (this one and TimeBomb 2000) in several threads. I've started a dedicated Forum:

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a.tcl?topic=The%20Transcript

-- Anonymous, December 31, 1998

Guess what? The URL http://pdq2.usia.gov/ IS GONE...

YOU CAN'T VIEW IT ANYMORE. Meg you found a GOLDMINE. This is what makes me nervous about Y2K because I have found documentation and have saved it, only to see it dissappear later. I'm not kidding. KEEP UP THE HARD WORK. We must reviel THE TRUTH!

-- Anonymous, January 01, 1999

I'm very sorry. I don't want to start conspiracy theories. The URL http://pdq2.usia.gov/ does exist. I fat fingered the address 3 times. I must have had few too many to night.

Happy New Years!

-- Anonymous, January 01, 1999

How do I get the "Abrams Report". Meg can you please post it all here. You can't view anything on the site because its a privite site (requiring username & Password)

I would surely appreciate you posting the complete report here.

Thanks

-- Anonymous, January 01, 1999

While not directly related to the electric industry (although there is some mention of power issues), this is a good source document that reflects an "unrehearsed" government view at almost the highest level of the President's Year 2000 Council. The transcripts are available at:

http://www.usia.gov/current/news/topic/global/98122301.ggi

I have asked Meg not to repost the entire transcript here.

-- Anonymous, January 01, 1999

Meg,

They can't afford me. ;-)

-- Anonymous, January 01, 1999

You actually can see the transcript of Abrams report at http://pdq2.usia.gov/

When you first go to the address, ignore the password request and start at search using top text box - search for Y2K Do not enter date. The top story (at this time) is it.

-- Anonymous, January 01, 1999

Meg, I just play a librarian's part by trying to distribute information - that's the only way I can "mitigate" anything. Rick humorously brought up an interesting point about the formation of these mitigation teams by the government. Who pays the salaries? The corporations whose employees are on these teams or the government? (A lend-lease plan?) If this plan truly is going to be a voluntary joint venture by business and government, then those experts who will be wanted on these teams will likely have to have some monetary incentives or at least guaranteed safety for their families. The only other option is to literally "draft" them under Federal regs, which I imagine would create some animosity among those they need to do the work. On the other hand, if it's apparent that whatever particular situation needing a "mitigation team" is dire, then I would expect many to rise to the occasion regardless of payment.

Hopefully, nothing this dire will occur, although when we read that other countries are included in this plan, then it does make you wonder. I impishly can't help but remind Rick and others about a movie precedent for bargaining with the government when skills are desperately needed. I do not in any way mean to imply I think the Year 2000 problems will equal the desperation depicted in "Armageddon" but if you've seen the movie, you know the "deal" was "we don't want to pay taxes for the rest of our lives". I got a huge laugh over that deal! Any super geeks out there who want to polish their bargaining skills? (Ok, ok, my imagination is running away with me, but hopefully somebody else with be able to laugh along with me on this!) Just imagining a team "fixing" the I.R.S. but never having to pay taxes themselves gives me the chuckles...

-- Anonymous, January 01, 1999

Here is an active link to the ABRAMS transcript.

http://www.usia.gov/current/news/topic/global/98122301.ggi.html?/products/washfile/newsitem.shtml

This link is also interesting: http://www.gridwatch.com/

Cheers Nick http://www.cairns.net.au/~sharefin/Markets/Y2k.htm

-- Anonymous, January 02, 1999