read following and weep.

http://www.dispatch.com/pan/news/y2kguynws.html

-- b johnson (youwish@iwaynet.net), June 30, 1999

Answers

U.S. ready for Jan. 1, Y2K spokesman says Isolated problems still a possibility Wednesday, June 30, 1999 By David Lore Dispatch Science Reporter John Koskinen says he doesn't have crystal ball for Jan. 1. --> Expect the unexpected, advises John Koskinen, the federal government's point man on the Year 2000 computer problem. But he can't say for sure what will happen when the clock strikes midnight on Dec. 31. "If anybody tells you today that they know what Jan. 1 will look like, they're guessing,'' Koskinen said yesterday. Koskinen, director of President Clinton's Council on Year 2000 Conversion, participated yesterday in the Central Ohio Y2K Community Forum at the Riffe Center as part of a 22-state tour this summer to brief communities. Koskinen has headed up the nation's response to the Y2K problem since early 1998 and has worked as a crisis management specialist in government and industry for more than two decades. Computers worldwide need to be checked, reprogrammed or replaced before Dec. 31 to avoid potential widespread malfunctions. Until recently, programmers used two-digit shorthand for the year that could result in computers reading "00'' as 1900 instead of 2000. Current estimates, Koskinen said, are that $80 billion to $100 billion will be spent through next year to fix the problem in the United States. A surprise, however, is that code corrections haven't proved as expensive as once thought, he said. Anticipated risks also have decreased as people have worked on Y2K problems. Last year, for example, Koskinen sought to bolster public confidence by volunteering to fly the last New York-to-Washington shuttle on New Year's Eve. Now, with consensus that air travel won't be a problem, Koskinen said he's not sure the symbolic trip is necessary. And Koskinen is confident that everybody's worst nightmare -- a nationwide electricity and communications collapse -- is a bad dream. At the six-month point in the countdown, the nation's electric, telephone, financial and federal government systems almost all have been corrected, he said. Most state governments, including Ohio, also appear secure. The oil and gas industry is more problematic, but most companies should be Y2K compatible by Sept. 30, according to industry reports. "What we're likely to see (in January) is a series of isolated failures,'' he said. Many companies and customers could be disrupted or inconvenienced by such breakdowns, Koskinen said, "but there are not likely to be cascading effects.'' Koskinen said he's worried about Y2K impacts overseas, because most countries only recently have waked to the threat. Computer failures abroad could disrupt trade for some U.S. companies and cause problems for travelers and military units, he said. But they are unlikely to affect the U.S. economy. The other specter that haunts Koskinen is panic among U.S. citizens as the hour grows near. A major task at all levels of government during the next six months, he said, is to get accurate information to people, so long lines don't develop at gas stations, grocery stores and banks during the final weeks of 1999. Scare rumors about Y2K have abated in recent months, he said, but probably will be back in the fall. "One of the best things to come out of the Y2K problem is that people are going to be better prepared for any emergency tha

-- b johnson (youwish@iwaynet.net), June 30, 1999.

Amazing what Koskinen tells citizens and reporters here in the good ole U.S.A.

Here's what Koskinen said out of the country last month ...

"we've told our local governments and our state governments that they need to be prepared to handle emergencies on their own, since the federal government can't be everywhere dealing with every problem in light of the large number of problems that we are likely to have" ...

"we should also obviously expect that we will have a large number, possibly, of what would be manageable failures taken one at a time, which will overwhelm the normal emergency response processes when they happen all at once." ...

"we've asked FEMA to... make clear to the state and local emergency managers ... that those local governments should not assume that the federal government and FEMA will be able to come to their assistance no matter what their problem is, because we may have so many problems in localities across the country that we can't be everywhere at once. "

John Koskinen, Chair - President's Council on Y2K Conversion Transcript, APEC Summit, May 4, 1999 United States Information Agency http://pdq2.usia.gov/scripts/cqcgi.exe/@pdqtest1.env?CQ_SESSION_KEY=YL WXNVIGNNZM&CQ_QUERY_HANDLE=123990&CQ_CUR_DOCUMENT=1&CQ_PDQ_DOCUMENT_VI EW=1&CQSUBMIT=View&CQRETURN=&CQPAGE=1

Boy I get disgusted when I see this B.S.

-- Cheryl (Transplant@Oregon.com), June 30, 1999.

OH - I FORGOT THIS Response from George Grindley [Georgia Representative] to Bill Dale:

April 5, 1999

Dear Bill,

I did indeed make the statement that you attributed to me. John Koskinen is using three weeks as the outside possibility, but I think things could get ugly.

I wouldn't give you any odds that nuclear power will be working by then. The feds have said they must be compliant by July 1, or shut down. It takes about 4 months to totally shut down a plant.

Personally, I believe a serious concern is the cyber terrorism of the power grid. The department of defense is really concerned that this is being planned. This could last awhile under these conditions.

The truth is ... no one really knows for sure. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best, and weigh the risk of preparation with the risk of non-preparation..

Yours in service,

George Grindley State Representative - District 35 Marietta Ga ------------------------------------------------------------

I wish I had copied the entire article written by Bill Dale. I recall his writing that he normally would not do a straight copy of correspondence sent to him, but in this case he decided that he would.

The letter was originally found at: http://home.ica.net/~njarc/Docs/ckpower499.html - However, the entire web site has changed and the original article and letter was removed June 5, 1999 and replaced with a photo.

-- Cheryl (Transplant@Oregon.com), June 30, 1999.

This is now what can be found at that site:

John Kosikinen: "Plan for a 3 weeks power outage" http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=000Z4n

In this online forum thread, the poster says, "Koskinen was telling state [GA] officials to make contingency plans for a three week power outage." I followed up on it. Wrote to the Georgia State Rep mentioned in the post. He said it's true.

Bill Dale billdale@lakesnet.net

RELEVANT EXCERPTS

Yesterday, someone posted in the Play by Play thread something about a Georgia representative who appeared on a radio talk show, saying that Koskinen was telling state officials to make contingency plans for a three week power outage. A couple of us raised eyebrows at that, so I inquired who it was.

I took the time to call GA Rep. Grindley yesterday. In our conversation, he established this and divulged a bit more. Mr. Grindley is chair of Georgia's Task Force 2000. In speaking with the CIO of Georgian state systems, the CIO mentioned that Koskinen had told them to ensure their contingency plans addressed 3 weeks without electric power. Mr. Grindley said that the CIO had told him the Feds are quite alarmed ("scared shitless" was his phrase) about the ease with which anyone can break into the power grid, as it was never meant to be overly secure. The grid, evidently, runs at 60 MHz, and if anyone broke in and told the system it was anything less than 60 MHz, maybe 59.8, it would all shut down.

I don't know much about the grid and MHz, but needless to say, it has raises the stakes for us northern folks  Brett (savvydad@aol.com), March 03, 1999

Definitely NOT "hear say" - verbatim quote, heard it directly (live) from the source, with Brett following up separately. Spoke to him on air for several minutes, and can confirm his knowledge and reliability. Robert A. Cook, P.E. (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), March 03, 1999.

Ref above: my conversation on air was with Rep. Grindley, not Brett. Also, spent several hours with him earlier at his GA state legislature's briefing. I disagree with some of his conclusions, but we are still allowed our own opinions in this republic. He is also sponsoring some medical and other Y2K-related bills this session.

In the absence of any other information - I'll trust this as a source.

Though be warned - this forum is monitored. (Most likely.) If the "powers that be" don't like what is said, the "powers that be' have ways of changing what was said "on the record."

But they cannot change what I heard. Robert A. Cook, P.E. (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), March 03, 1999.

[Robert & Brett: Hope you don't mind my re-posting info here. It helps flesh out and validate what's going on.]

-- Cheryl (Transplant@Oregon.com), June 30, 1999.

Thanks, Cheryl. What a warrior you are.

This three-week-power-out stuff better not f*(&^&%g be accurate, or possible.

GN, for some reason, needs 60 days of no-power to go Infomagic: I can name that tune with 2 weeks of widespread outages.

-- Lisa (lisa@work.now), June 30, 1999.

Ko-skin-em knows the majority of Americans are apathetic and sleeping behind the wheel. Anything can be said with little regard of previous statements (or even conflicting ones made at the same time). As far as the population goes, "stupid gets what stupid ignores". This country won't even have the guts to hold any of our public servants accountable when TSHTF. They'll look around the terrain, like a cow belly high in the mud 'bawling' for somebody to save them from themselves. Clinton knows he has nothing to fear from the peasants beneath him. The only mistake he'll make in this assumption, will be that this country is not *completely* full of 'helpless hicks'. He's about to meet some of us, and he will soil himself.

-- Will continue (farming@home.com), June 30, 1999.