I took notes (unfortunately handwritten) of Admiral Quigley's open testimony to congress on the Y2K problem with the DeeCee to Moskva Hotline.

Turns out that 6 of the 7 red phones have a Y2K problem and he "expects" these will be repaired before the end of the year.

Our silly-polly-wollies have maintained that 1) there are no problems with Telcos, 2) It was all fixed long ago, 3) If not, it will be fixed in, oh, 2 or 3 hours, 4) Even if it breaks, no one will die, there is no way an obscure computer failure could be life threatening... and other more outrageous and frankly stupid things.

But wait, I recall that if everything wasn't Y2K'ed by July 31, 1999, that all defense procurement spending was to be reallocated just to Y2K work. I guess they were kidding there too.

Come on, polly-wollies. Spin this one. By the way, we discussed this on the chat line last night and one fellow mentioned that he was glad that part of his preps included a "storm cellar/bomb shelter".

I'll put more info on my webpage, might not be for a few days though. I got some business to take care of. More Details Later.

-- cory (kiyoinc@ibm.XOUT.net), September 29, 1999

Answers

Cory, Haven't seen your comments on the NEW Koski position ref "can't SURPRISE the people, there WILL be proiblems...."

Night train

-- jes an ol footballer lookin fer the light (Nighttr@in.lane), September 29, 1999.

How many of you remember that "mysterious" loss of all of those carrier pigeons last year?

(theme from Jaws)

-- Will continue (farming@home.com), September 29, 1999.

Point... point =>

"We can't surprise people," Koskinen said. "There are going to be Y2K failures on New Year's Day."

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id= 001TkZ

;-D

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), September 29, 1999.

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Amazing that something so critical to our defense and security was not tested LONG AGO!!!

And it should have been tested and verified and the verification personally observed by auditors and/or quality assurance personnel.

Considering the importance of this equipment, the signatures of the testers, auditors and/or QA personnel should be required.

A fraudulent sign-off would be grounds for permanent barring from profession, stiff fines and jail time. I have just described for you the circumstances for sign-offs on major repairs and inspections on any commercial American transport category aircraft. No aircraft in this category can be released back into service without proper oversight, inspection and signed paperwork.

Why should our nations defense and security be any less important?

WHY ARE THEY SO LAX?

TRULY AMAZING !!!

TRULY SCARY !!!

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-- no talking please (breadlines@soupkitchen.gov), September 29, 1999.

What really scares me about this revelation is it raises questions about what else the military, or anyone else, has missed in their Y2k assessments. Luckily, they found it but why the heck did it take so long in such a "mission critical" system? Shouldn't they have checked systems like these first?

Kinda scary. Thanks Cory.

Mike

=================================================================

-- Michael Taylor (mtdesign3@aol.com), September 29, 1999.

lol no talking please : )

We must have been posting at the same time! Well said ; )

Mike

=====================================================================

-- Michael Taylor (mtdesign3@aol.com), September 29, 1999.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/russiay2k990928.htm l

Unprepared for Y2K Bug?

[ Fair Use: For Educational/Research Purposes Only ]

Unprepared for Y2K Bug?

Hotlines and Nuclear Weapons Could Be Jeopardized

By Barbara Starr, ABCNEWS.com

W A S H I N G T O N, Sept. 28  Six of the seven hotline emergency communications links between Washington and Moscow could fall prey to the Y2K bug, the Pentagon warns.

Edward Warner, U.S. assistant secretary of defense for strategy and threat reduction, told a Senate special committee on Y2K problems today that the two sides are working urgently to fix the problem, which involves commercial software in both governments.

He also played down the potential of a mistaken launch of nuclear missiles, but acknowledged how serious such a mishap would be.

Experts in both countries agree that the likelihood of Y2K failures in computer systems associated with our nuclear weapons, supporting command and control, and early warning systems is extremely remote, Warner told the Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem.

Moreover, sufficient safeguards are in place to protect against consequences of such failures. Nonetheless, we are mindful of concerns by some that a Y2K-induced failure could result in the accidental launch of nuclear weapons, and the potentially severe consequences of any misinterpretation of early warning information.

And he said that Russia seemed unprepared to deal with any problem that does occur. (See story, below.)

U.S. Will Help With Software

The hotlines, which date from the height of the Cold War in the 1960s, are highly secure communications links that allow the senior leaders on both sides to talk to each other instantly. There are direct links between the U.S. and Russian presidents; the U.S. secretary of state and the Russian minister of foreign affairs; and the U.S. secretary of defense and the Russian minister of defense.

At the time the hotlines were set up, computer programmers, in order to save memory, abbreviated dates by using only the last two digits of the year. The fear is that on Jan. 1, 2000, computers that have not been altered to accommodate the millennium bug will misread the date as 1900 and crash.

The United States has now agreed to supply Russia with Y2K-compliant software and computer workstations in the next several weeks that will fix the shortfall in the hotlines and also monitor the system throughout the Y2K transition period, beginning in mid-December.

As a backup, the United States may also send Russia backup analog circuits, additional secure phone and fax systems and emergency mobile satellite (INMARSAT) telephones. U.S. and Russian technical experts will meet again from Oct. 19-22 to work out final details.

The Pentagon first began talking with the Russian Ministry of Defense in February about the Y2K problem and the impact of the potential glitch on the security of nuclear weapons and early warning systems. But U.S. relations with Russia were badly strained by NATOs war with Yugoslavia over Kosovo, and subsequent meetings were canceled. It was not until last month that the two sides got together again.

A key agreement was finally reached when U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen and Russian Minister of Defense Igor Sergeyev earlier this month agreed to set up a Center for Year 2000 Strategic Stability.

The center will be located at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo. Its main job will be to provide a single location where U.S. and Russian military officers can sit together and share information from U.S. intelligence sensors on detection of possible missile launches during the Y2K transition period. The center is concerned with keeping an eye on accidental launches, or any misread of perhaps false launch data due to Y2K computer glitches.

The center is slated to be completed Dec. 1. It will then operate around the clock throughout the first two weeks of January.

Both Sides in Contact

U.S. personnel at the center will be in voice contact with operations officials at the North American Air Defense command while Russian personnel will be in voice contact with a command center in Moscow.

This temporary center is a separate initiative from another program: the permanent Joint U.S.-Russian Warning Center. Both sides are still negotiating to set up that facility in Moscow. Under that plan, both sides will share early warning data from each others satellites and radars of a threat from the launch of ballistic missiles or space-launch vehicles.

Warner also told the Senate panel that the Russians are improving the security of their nuclear stockpile in advance of the Y2K transition period. This represents a significant and positive change in posture since our previous discussions of Y2K vulnerabilities and consequences, he said.

Beginning in December 1999 and lasting through March 2000 the Russians will maintain a special Y2K monitoring and control center at each of their 50 main nuclear storage sites. The centers will operate around the clock and be staffed by soldiers who have been selected and trained for the job.

If There Were a Problem 

If the Y2K bug does disrupt the safety or security of Russias nuclear weapons, it is not at all certain that Russia could deal with the problem fast enough to prevent an even bigger mishap.

The Russian 12th Main Directorate of the Ministry of Defense is responsible for storage and security of all Russian nuclear warheads that are not deployed in the field.

Warner told the panel there are significant shortfalls in the ability of the directorate to respond if the monitoring centers detect a security or safety problem.

Within the monitoring centers, the lack of standard equipment such as personal computers and faxes could readily produce delays in the decision process, he said. Once decisions are made, the ability to respond appropriately will be compromised by equipment that is unreliable, obsolete or in disrepair.

The United States has now agreed to send $15 million worth of equipment including emergency generators, fire trucks, warhead handling and medical response vehicles, radios for security response forces and field reporting and backup communications capabilities.
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-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), September 29, 1999.

93 days.

Y2K CANNOT BE FIXED!

-- Jack (jsprat@eld.~net), September 29, 1999.

Just 28 workdays 'till Turkey Day. NOTHING gets accomplished in December.

Don't worry, be happy!

-- K. Stevens (kstevens@ It's ALL going away in January.com), September 29, 1999.

USIS Washington File
29 September 1999
Text: Warner Cites Y2K Problems with U.S.-Russian Hotlines

(Cites establishment of joint Y2K center) (3030)

http://www.usia.gov/cgi-bin/washfile/display.pl?p=/products/washfile/ latest/&f=99092902.glt&t=/products/washfile/newsitem.shtml

The United States and Russia have identified Y2K problems that would prevent the full operation of all but one of the seven direct communications links, or "hotlines," that guarantee immediate communications between U.S. and Russian leaders. ...

[snip]

Statement of Dr. Edward Warner III, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy and Threat Reduction, before the Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem

September 28, 1999

more...

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), September 30, 1999.