Y2K Emergency Update

by Jim Redden

he official word is this: The Millennium Bug is not a problem. Don't worry about Y2K. The governments of the world have everything under control. Maybe you should put away a little food, water, and money, but not much. Prepare like you would for a winter storm ... and no more.

That's what the federal government says on its official Y2K website, operated by the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion. And that's what the establishment press says about the programming glitch that could cause millions of computers around the world to crash just after midnight on January 1, 2000. But it doesn't take much research to learn that the government and the mainstream media are lying. Most experts, who have written numerous books and articles on the subject, believe the Millennium Bug will cause power failures, food shortages, water disruptions and other "infrastructure" problems.

Consider these items gleaned from the establishment press and alternative news sources:

• On June 28, 1999, the Washington Post reported that the District of Columbia government will not complete its Y2K repair program on time. The paper said the District is working on 88 emergency and contingency plans to cope with potential Millennium Bug problems. Among other things, district officials said they would mobilize the city's entire emergency personnel staff on New Years Eve, station police at 120 locations across the city, and open 21 "warming centers" equipped with food, water and cots. The DC General Hospital said it will add up to 175 extra staff members for Y2K-related emergency treatment.

• On June 28, 1999, USA Today reported that the Millennium Bug could cause wide-spread problems at worksites. The article reported that factories, office buildings, and oil rigs were especially vulnerable. Among other things, the paper predicted that computer problems could cause chemical spills, both false and "blocked" fire alarms, and oil leaks. "Lawyers and consultants are warning that worker safety hasn't received appropriate attention as the world heads into the final months before the Year 200 'millennium bug,'" the paper wrote.

• On June 24, 1999, USA Today reported that one in every four American counties has no plan to deal with potential computer problems caused by the Millennium Bug. The paper said that a report from the National Association of Counties also found that more than half of them have no plan if things go wrong on January 1.

• Two Y2K-related problems caused headaches for Los Angeles officials in May and June, 1999. According to the June 17 edition of the Drudge Report, in late May, Mayor Riordan and other City Hall workers were plunged into darkness after the power failed during a Y2K disaster drill. Drudge said the mayor was forced to walk up nine floors of stairs to his office and descend 12 floors to City Hall's underground Emergency Operation Center after the power was cut, Drudge reported. "That bothers me," Riordan reportedly said at the time. "If we can't take care of the elevators, what can we take care of in this city?" Then, on the morning of June 17, a computer failure during a Y2K drill at a sanitation plant pushed more than 4 million gallons of hazardous sewage into a nearby park. According to Drudge, officials at the Donald Tillman Water Reclamation Plant in the city's San Fernando Valley had been testing a computer backup system, recreating a Y2K power outage, when the accident occurred. A park ranger was first to spot raw sewage gushing up from a manhole at nearby Woodley Park—which the city was considering for an official Millennium New Year's Eve party. "I don't want us to be characterized as the city with the biggest Y2K problems," Mayor Riordan reportedly told an associate after the spill.

• The government of Hong Kong has declared that New Years Eve will be a "Y2K holiday." According to the June 16, 1999 issue of the South China Morning Post, all banks will be closed to double-check records and solve last-minute computer problems. "In an apparent attempt to head off a Y2K-inspired run on deposits, authorities urged the public not to overreact to the announcement, saying the holiday was a preventive measure," the paper reported.

• According to a June 1999 report by ComputerWorld, a key Mobil Oil distribution site in Australia shut down when a Y2K upgrade caused the computer system to collapse the same day it was installed. The report said the outage happened in late May, temporarily halting all Australia-wide shipments for at least a week. Samantha Potts, Mobil Oil's external relations manager, confirmed that a "Y2K-driven" systems revamp had failed at the company's plant in Yarraville, Victoria, but denied the outage had resulted in a week-long business freeze. "The production process was only slowed down for two days. The day we put it in, we started developing problems. Overnight, we decided to pull it out again. The second day we pulled it out and by the third day we were back to the old software. It was definitely a two-day issue, and deliveries were still going out the gate," claimed Potts, who added that everything was now completely fixed.

• On May 23, 1999, 60 Minutes reported that the Millennium Bug could cause months of problem, and that local governments are not prepared to deal with them. "Now the federal government is comparing Y2K to a huge natural disaster, like an earthquake, a hurricane, or a tornado that disrupts peoples' lives for days, weeks or maybe even months," the television news show intoned. "The people who seem to be the least prepared are local governments, and you may find that the computer bug hits hardest on the street where you live."

• On May 17, 1999, the Telegraph of London reported that "America's major cities are preparing secret command centers and making plans to mobilize armed troops in the event of a possible breakdown of social order if there is widespread computer failure on the eve of 2000." The newspaper said New York, Los Angeles, and Columbus, Ohio, recently completed work on large, secure emergency command centers.

• During the second week of May, New York revealed that its new $12 million chaos control center was "90 percent complete but fully operational." It was actually used during a snow storm in February. According to the city, the 46,000 square foot complex is located on the 23rd floor of the World Trade Center in Manhattan. It can house up to 100 people, and is protected behind a wall of bullet-proof glass. As the Telegraph put it, "While it is designed to deal with any emergency from a terrorist attack to a hurricane, the speed of its construction suggests that New York's planning for possible Y2K chaos is at an advanced stage."

• The Telegraph reported that Los Angeles officials are preparing an emergency command center five floors beneath a federal office building in the center of the city. The facility would normally be used to manage the notoriously congested L.A. traffic. But during an emergency, The Automated Traffic Signal and Control Center would be converted into a survival bunker. It is designed to be safe against earthquakes and nuclear explosions, and is protected by four giant bank vault-style doors. It has its own power system, and can be reached only by a secret elevator. According to the Telegraph, the center "has the advantage of dozens of remote control cameras at strategic road junctions which could become the eyes and ears of emergency planners."

• Meanwhile, in April state officials in Ohio announced they were ready to move government operations into a $13 million bunker eight miles outside of Columbus on December 29, just days before the Year 2000. The officials said the center will be manned 24-hours-a-day from New Year's Eve until it is no longer needed. According to the Telegraph, the complex "is surrounded by barbed wire, with underground dormitories, a filtered air, food and water supply. Ohio officials say it will be used to coordinate relief efforts if there is a major failure of public utilities."

• On May 3, 1999, syndicated columnist Jack Anderson reported that the U.S. government had developed secret plans to respond to civil unrest caused by the Millennium Bug. According to Anderson, "[T]he U.S. military is quietly planning a sophisticated social-response network in case civil unrest should erupt ... Thomas Barnett, director of the Y2K security project, says his team has been coaching every branch of the military - indeed even the Marines - since last fall, planning drills and simulating Y2K breakdowns." Anderson also reported that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was working with the National Guard to coordinate state and local responses to Y2K problems, while the State Department will cover international social problems. Anderson also said that Attorney General Janet Reno recently created a small agency within the Federal Bureau of Investigation, called the National Domestic Preparedness Office, that will be the federal authority for any national Y2K repercussions.

• The U.S. Department of the Treasury has announced that it will print an additional $200 million in extra currency because it expects that huge numbers of people will pull cash out of their bank accounts before the end of the year.

• Although the National Guard is organized by state, guard units are reported to be coordinating with federal agencies on a new command and control system with high-frequency radios, emergency power backup sources, and command centers to be ready by the end of the year. Some training began shortly after the first of the year. On February 17, the Associated Press reported, "National Guard units around the country are being trained to deal with phone-system outages and other chaos that could result from computer crashes when the year 2000 begins." A full call-up of all 370,000 Army and 110,000 Air National Guard has not taken place since 1940. An initial step would be the cancellation of all armed forces leaves on December 31, 1999.

• Canada is already mobilizing its 14,500 military personnel for the end of the year as part of Operation Abacus. It has also put on alert all of its 60,000 troops and reservists for the Year 2000.

• Even if the computers don't crash, government leaders fear that the public might panic and cause serious problems. As the Washington Post reported on March 22, 1999, "Panicked consumers who hoard cash, food, medicine, and gasoline could create more severe social and economic problems than any technological failures resulting from the Year 2000 computer glitch, industry and political leaders increasingly fear." The paper quoted Stephen D. O'Leary, a University of Southern California professor who has been studying the Year 2000 issue, saying, "I think we run a serious risk of a full-scale social panic between now and the end of the year."

his was a major theme at a recent United Nations conference on the Millennium Bug. Representatives from more than 170 nations met at the U.N. headquarters in New York on June 23 for the Second Global Y2K National Coordinators Meeting. According to a report by the British Broadcasting Corporation, the delegates "voiced concern about the potential for panic among an ill-informed general public."

According to a March 4, 1999 report by World Net Daily Internet news reporter David M. Bresnahan, "The Federal Emergency Management Agency has issued plans which include the use of the military as a domestic police force in the event of Y2K civil disturbances. The plan also provides for the movement of large numbers of people into shelters in the event of a disaster associated with Y2K computer failures. The FEMA plan of action for the Y2K crisis is outlined in the report 'Contingency and Consequence Management Planning for Year 2000 Conversion: A Guide for State and Local Emergency Managers.' The plan was recently made available to local governments throughout the country."

The specter of public panic has prevented the U.S. government from dealing candidly with the Y2K issue. According to the February 18, 1999 edition of Wired News, the government doesn't even know what to tell its own employees. "White House officials fear federal agencies that advise employees to begin personal Y2K preparations could unduly alarm the public," Wired News reported. "The problem of what to tell workers has quickly become a thorny one for government officials who are trying to balance candor with discretion."

For more information on this a related topics, go to the government FEMA site, as well as The Drudge Report.

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