Post reports a Y2K bug at the Pentagon
From: kiyoinc@ibm.XOUT.net (cory hamasaki)
Newsgroups: comp.software.year-2000
Subject: Post reports a Y2K bug at the Pentagon, -bksie: Good News!
Date: 30 Nov 1999 11:52:21 GMT
Hit washingtonpost.com for your free copy of this shocker.
Here are a few tidbits (fair use doctrine, for education and
discussion)
=======================================
Huge Backlog for Security Checks Tied to Pentagon Computer Woes
By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 30, 1999; Page A09
The Pentagon has a backlog of more than 600,000 employees awaiting
investigations for security clearances in part because a $100 million
effort to computerize the process has been a massive failure, government
officials and members of Congress said yesterday.
The new computer system installed by the Defense Security Service, which
conducts the background checks, has "not operated as intended, is not
year 2000 compliant and may cost about an additional $100 million to
stabilize," according to a report this month by the General Accounting
Office, an investigative arm of Congress.
...
"This is a huge, massive failure," a senior staff member of the Senate
Armed Services Committee said yesterday. He added, however, that
committee members believe the Pentagon has begun to remedy the situation
by appointing retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Charles J. Cunningham Jr. to
head the 2,500-person Defense Security Service.
...
Assistant Defense Secretary Arthur L. Money also has promised to follow
some of the GAO's recommendations, including an immediate "Y2K testing
and mitigation" program to ensure that the $100 million computer system,
installed in October 1998, will not confuse the year 2000 with the year
1900.
...
As of August, the Defense Security Service, with the assistance of the
Air Force, had been unable to determine exactly what would be needed to
solve the computer system's various hardware and software problems, and
estimates of the cost ranged from $100 million to more than $300
million, the report said.
(c) Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company
==================================
Oh well, it's only national security, it's not important like Kit Kats,
refridgerators, luggage, stereos, yard waste.
Thankfully it's not a breakdown in the distribution of Bay Watch Videos
or pork sausage.
We're getting better though, this one was only a month from install to
the "Whoopsie, we need money and geeks" stage. This is encouraging.
Anyway, hit the Post. Please pollies, don't flame me with your big
keyboards. Give Air Force Lt. Gen Chuckie "cheese" Cunningham,
what-fer.
761 Hours.
cory hamasaki kiyoinc.com
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