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The USA vs. Y2K ( This is part one of a two-part interview with Jack Gribben, spokesman for the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion and press secretary to council chair John Koskinen.) Don't have much faith in the government's efforts to fix its Year 2000 problems in time? Think again, all you wavers of the red, white and blue. Bet you didn't know that some federal agencies like Social Security started their Y2K efforts as early as 1989, and that all agencies joined the race against the clock by 1995. That year, the government created its first Y2K inter-agency task force. It wasn't long before agencies were required to submit quarterly reports indicating their Y2K progress. In February 1998, President Clinton created the Council on Year 2000 Conversion, staffed by representatives from more than 35 agencies including the departments of defense and labor, the Federal Reserve, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. This council became responsible for coordinating the federal government's efforts on the Year 2000 problem: To ensure that agencies are working to fix their mission critical systems, and to encourage state and local governments, the private sector and other countries to become Y2K compliant before January 1, 2000. I recently spoke with Jack Gribben, spokesman for the council, to learn of the government's Y2K progress. What he had to say made me a lot more optimistic about our nation’s chances to ward off the Millennium Bug long before New Years. Q : Currently, how Y2K compliant is the United States government? A : The data is measured quarterly. As of January 31, 79 percent of mission-critical systems within the federal government are now compliant, up from 61 percent reported on October 31, 1998, and 50 percent reported on July 31, 1998. Y2K compliance is defined as mission-critical systems compliance, which is how the private sector and local and state governments have defined it, too. The president has set a goal of having 100 percent of mission-critical systems compliant by the end of March, 1999. Realistically, we should be very close to that goal. We will not have another data call until the end of April, but we will probably be over 90 percent compliant at the end of March. Based on all the information we have from the agencies, we should have 100 percent compliance on critical systems well before the end of the year -- I would expect by this summer. Q : Once you've achieved 100 percent compliance on critical systems, what comes next? A : The concept of mission-critical systems is to allow agencies to really prioritize their work on the Y2K problem, to make sure we get the systems that are absolutely essential fixed first. At the same time, many of the agencies are fixing their non-critical systems. They need to do end-to-end testing with other agencies they rely on, such as the Treasury Department, and with outside partners such as the states to make sure their programs (e.g., food stamps, unemployment insurance) are Y2K ready. Q : Which government agencies are now 100 percent compliant, and for which agencies is Y2K compliance most important ? A : The Social Security Administration, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Small Business Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency and perhaps one or two others are now 100 percent compliant. There are several other agencies in the high 90 percent range. All government agencies are important, but each agency is ranked into tiers. Tier one agencies are classified as those not making adequate progress, and are thus a priority. John (Koskinen) meets monthly with the senior executives at those agencies to track how they're doing. Q : Did the U.S. government start its Y2K efforts a little too late, in your opinion? A : The government started work on its Y2K problems long before our council was created. However, it's safe to say that everybody should have addressed the issue earlier -- not just the federal government, but businesses, other countries and state and local governments. Two things are responsible for people tackling this problem late: One is the natural human instinct to procrastinate somewhat. The other relates to computers and technology. We live in an age where many people think we'll come up with a silver-bullet solution, that eventually we'll be able to put a disk in our computers that will fix this problem. The mind set has been, 'There's no need to go through this tedious process of searching for and rewriting all these lines of code because somebody's going to invent the ultimate five-minute fix.' That hasn't happened. Q : How is the government working to fight negative press on its efforts? A : Initially, the press' instinct was to focus on the problems with federal systems. You saw a lot of articles on this topic back in 1997 and 1998. At that time, the progress we were making wasn't very evident. In the past, we've had a lot of agencies indicate in their quarterly reports that they've had 100 percent of their systems fixed, when really they were only in the testing phase. An agency has to complete four phases of work on its systems: assessment, fixing, testing and implementation. The agency doesn't get credit for being compliant until it completes these phases, puts each system back online in its normal environment. So the numbers early on were low because agencies were working through the process. Now, we're at a point where, based on recent quarterly reports, we've had significant increases in the number of compliant systems. This is because everybody's starting to come across that finish line at once. Yes, we've had a spate of not too favorable press in the beginning. But the government has said all along that we're confident that well before the end of this year, we're going to have 100 percent of mission critical systems compliant. I think that's bearing true. However, I don't want to paint a picture that we're 100 percent comfortable with the level of progress domestically. There is much work that needs to be done. (Next week: Gribben's New Years 2000 predictions and what you can do to prepare for Y2K judgement day.) � 1999 Thomson Target Media Erik J. Martin is a freelance journalist who has penned a regular multimedia column for Screen Magazine and has written for a variety of other publications, including the Chicago Tribune, Coverstory and The X-Files Official Magazine. He lives in Oak Lawn, Illinois, with his wife, son, and the Millennium Bug, which he is still trying to exterminate from his PC. Certainly no self-proclaimed technowhiz, Erik prides himself on being "an average guy with the same concerns and questions about Y2K as everyone else. My job? To get answers to those questions, and pass them along to you." Techno file index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA