DE JAGER: Oh, absolutely. The fact that they have done street- wide testing is absolutely crucial to the whole process. But as he said -- and his words were "Just as we've have started." We need to complete the entire thing. There needs to be a sense of urgency and that is what has been lacking here.
PRESS: Isn't the sense of urgency on the part of the business community, one word, survival? And isn't it survival that'll make them fix it?
DE JAGER: It is if they believe it was real, but we've had the media saying it was hype and it was exaggeration, and it's there because I want to make a buck. It's the media that has a tremendous responsibility in communicating this problem. There are a lot of people out there who say this is not a problem because it was never written in "The Wall Street Journal". This isn't a problem because it was not in -- "The New York Times."
BUCHANAN: All right, Dennis, you have admitted it was a problem. You say, "computer chips embedded in personal computers, printers, phones, vehicles and weapons systems must be located." We also hear today that the government officials are saying off the record, these agencies are not up to speed, and one of them is defense.
KUNINICH: Right. Correct.
BUCHANAN: Now this, it seems to me, if you're talking about all of these computer chips in weapons systems, management of weapons systems and all the rest of it, isn't that really the most dangerous situation we face?
KUNINICH: I think it's one of the most serious, absolutely. And what we need to do -- and that's what's being done. And people need to know this, that the government is focused on this. You have to remember, Pat, the government didn't create this problem. This was a private sector problem that's created. We bought millions of computers...
BUCHANAN: The private sector -- Wall Street's not -- Wall Street's not in control of those cruise missiles.
DE JAGER: This is not a private sector, public sector problem. This is a computer problem. Everybody is at fault here.
KUNINICH: But we need to know where it originated. And I also want to say that, with respect to the Department of Defense, it is major task that is being addressed. They're not up to speed of where they want to be. That is absolutely true. But it is -- and defense is one area we have to focus on.
BUCHANAN: One more thing -- look, the Russians, we just heard -- you mentioned the Russian system. The Russians have about -- I don't know -- over a thousand ballistic missiles, some of them with five or ten warheads sitting on top of them in silos and are you saying that their computer systems could all go crashing down on New Year's Day. And what is that going to mean in terms of what people sitting in those silos think?
DE JAGER: The systems might crash down, but to fire a nuclear missile by accident requires that everything work in sequence correctly. Missiles don't fire because something fails. Missiles fire when everything works properly.
BUCHANAN: But what's going to happen when these guys running...
(CROSSTALK)
DE JAGER: It's good news.
PRESS: It's good news.
DE JAGER: They lose the ability to fire them at you. Relax.
PRESS: That isn't going to happen.
BUCHANAN: That's very, very helpful.
(LAUGHTER)
Thank you, Mr. De Jager. Thank you very much for coming. Dennis Kucinich, thank you.
KUNINICH: The good news is we go back to 1900 and McKinley's president.
BUCHANAN: McKinley's era. All right -- and Bill Press and I will be back with closing comments on Y2K.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BUCHANAN: Bill, that bridge to the 21st century better not be a drawbridge run by a computer or you boys aren't going to be going anywhere.
PRESS: Pat, I know it's, you know, fun to blame all this on Al Gore. The truth is he's been talking about it for a long time. You know, Pat, what this reminds me of -- and you know this better than I mean there used to be all of these bands of zealous Christians, right, who'd gather out in these fields because they were all convinced by somebody that the world was going to an end.
BUCHANAN: No, no.
PRESS: They're still standing in those fields, Pat. I mean, this is not Armageddon. You know what? They're going to fix this, Pat, and you know what else? It's going to cost you and me money. We're going to have to run down to the store buy -- pay $49.95 for some piece of software to fix our home computer, and then the whole thing will be over. Sing "Auld Lang Syne."
BUCHANAN: Well, you know, I do think it's going to be a tremendous improvement in computer systems. All of them are going to be upgraded, updated, brand new ones now. I can tell you, the Americans will handle it better than anyone. But I tell you, abroad these countries aren't even focused on this at all, and they're the ones that are going to pay a price, and the Americans are going to leapfrog them once again, I think.
PRESS: All right, we've got 17 months, Pat, we've got to get to work. From the left, I'm Bill Press. Good night for CROSSFIRE.
BUCHANAN: America first. From the right, Pat Buchanan. Join us tomorrow night for another edition of CROSSFIRE.
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