Please read the 'About' link above first for important forum policy and procedures.I have provided this forum as a free service for government officials and military Y2K contingency\ emergency planners to discuss strategies to carry our society into the new millennium with as little duress and disruptions to our way of life as possible.

At this moment, you may be sitting in an office with a few of your people around you, looking out the window at the thousands of people and cars going by, moving about their daily business unaware or unconcerned with Y2K issues. You may be only a few, scratching your heads, wondering how you're going to be able to carry off a smooth transition into the new year.

You are not alone. Others across the country and around the world are looking at similar data, pondering the same questions and trying to arrive at the most viable solutions. Never have so many relied on so few. You have been personally invited to this forum so that you may communicate to your peers without the political interference or organizational hierarchy inherent in our culture that may thwart open discussion.

You have been choosen by your electorate or those in power to take responsibility for what is about to occur in the upcoming year and what may follow. It's not for me to give you my 'take' on things or anyone elses opinions on this forum and expect those to be true. It will always be up to you to use or discard what you read here. My only hope is that it will help.

One important principle to keep in mind is that all areas are not alike when it comes to the state of Y2K remediation, readyness or contingency preparedness. Debates regarding how good or bad it will be may be a waste of precious time here. It'd be fair to state that different areas will experience a variant of difficulties. What's true for you may not apply to someone else. Please take those debates off-forum if you must. Some of you have been at this game for a few years now. Perhaps you can render assistance to those needing to get up to speed. Those of you still in the early stages of your planning, welcome. Don't be afraid to ask for our help. We may have covered ground you are just starting to look at.

Anything goes here. If you wish to discuss banking, social services, policing problems, or any number of topics of concern to your organization, please feel free to voice them here. Strategies and opinion, however arrived at, is OK by us.

When posting anonymously, please use my email address "njarc@ica.net" and use your name or any name you wish. A benefit of making your identity known is that others can network with you 'off-forum' which isn't to be discouraged. You are doing a job never attempted before, where no manuals exist and collaboration with others working on a similar project could be to your benefit.

If you use this forum I'll be grateful. If not, at least it was provided to you. I'm not sure if the server at MIT is Y2K compliant or not to handle the year end rollover, but if it is still up and running, we can use this forum for recovery ideas and planning.

Thank you, Gary Allan Halonen

-- Gary Allan Halonen (njarc@ica.net), August 22, 1999