-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a prelude to war! 000001. Fusion Center still looking for signs of millennium bug by Staff Sgt. Beverly Isik Standard Systems Group Public Affairs MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. (AFPN) -- While bases in Guam, Korea, Japan and Europe have ended the first official work day since the Jan. 1 rollover, Air Force systems still showed only minor symptoms of the millennium bug. It was a slow night for Fusion Center controllers from the Standard Systems Group as they stood watch over Air Force computer systems while the world rang in the New Year. Serving as the Air Force's Year 2000 help desk, the Fusion Center was up and running Dec. 29. Since then, controllers have handled only minor incidents, most of which turned out to not be Y2K related. For example, some Y2K incident reports were resolved by simply rebooting a system to reset the correct date, explained Fusion Center Director Col. Robert Glitz. The center tracks more than 1,700 Air Force computer systems, but has received only about 80 incident reports. Less than half of those have been verified as Y2K related, with less than 10 percent having any mission impact. Glitz said there was at no time any degradation of Air Force preparedness or readiness. "Although the ops tempo is still low and the incident reports we've received have had no significant impact on mission critical systems, the Fusion Center is still up and running," he said. Air Force systems were basically unaffected by the rollover, but all the anomalies may not have surfaced, according to Glitz. The SSG Y2K Office and the Fusion Center will continue tracking Y2K issues throughout the year. The Department of Defense and Standard Systems Group, explained Officer of the Watch Maj. Ken Hirlinger, made every possible effort to fix Y2K computer problems and rigorously trained for the rollover. "The Fusion Center is the finale of a long chain of activities that involved renovation, extensive testing and in-depth rescanning of Air Force software to ensure there were no significant Y2K-related problems as we entered 2000," the major said. "The Fusion Center and the processes behind it gave the Air Force the extra edge that enabled us to catch any potential Y2K errors and stamp them out quickly." Thorough testing, he said, kept the millennium bug from having a serious impact on medical systems and those systems used for aircraft maintenance and military pay. "We've all worked extremely hard preparing for this," said Senior Master Sgt. Steve Grissett, senior noncommissioned officer of the watch. "We were ready for anything and we met the Y2K challenge head on. You couldn't have asked for a better performance from the troops in the Fusion Center." Vice commander of the Air Force Communications and Information Center Brig. Bud Bell was here to get a close look at the Fusion Center team in action. "That's a result of a very well-orchestrated campaign that started two-and-half to three years ago," Bell said. "It represents a tremendous effort from a lot of folks." The Fusion Center's cross-functional team of active-duty members, Department of Defense civilians and contractors, ensured all Y2K trends and incident reports were logged and tracked to resolution. They worked around the clock monitoring communications networks and customer issues throughout the Air Force, consolidating and transforming raw data into useable information for the Air Force Operations Center at the Pentagon. Functional experts in the center coordinated with other agencies such as the Air Force Communications Agency, Air Force Personnel Center, Electronic Systems Center, Tri Service Medical Systems Support Center and the Air Force Civil Engineering Support Agency to build Y2K status reports for Air Staff and the Office of Secretary of Defense. The center was also augmented by representatives from various organizations including the Air Force Y2K Office, Air Force Communications Agency, Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center, Air Staff and the Air Force Information Warfare Center. 000002. Air Force awards contracts for six more F-22 Raptors by 1st Lt David Huxsoll Aeronautical Systems Center Public Affairs WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio (AFPN) -- The Air Force Dec. 30 awarded contracts totaling more than $1.5 billion to Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems, Marietta, Ga., and Pratt & Whitney, West Palm Beach, Fla., to build six F-22 Raptor production-representative test vehicles. The contract awards to the F-22's airframe manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, are valued at slightly more than $1.3 billion. These follow an earlier $195.5 million, advance buy contract to the company. A separate contract award of $180 million to Pratt & Whitney will fund two F-119 engines for each of the six aircraft, for a total of 12 engines. "We are confident that the F-22 is ready to move forward in the defense acquisition process," said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael E. Ryan. "These contracts put the F-22 program one step closer to its goal: a low-rate initial production decision by December 2000." "During the past two years, the F-22 program, under the direction of Maj. Gen. Michael C. Mushala, has successfully met every acquisition milestone and achieved all development criterion established by the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the program office," Ryan said. "Careful planning and execution by every member of the F-22 team -- government, prime contractors, and suppliers -- have helped this system pass every test with flying colors." In a related effort today, the Air Force awarded the same two manufacturers separate, additional F-22 contracts totaling $277.1 million, to support the Lot 1 Advance Buy of l0 production F-22s. Lockheed Martin will receive $275.4 million, while Pratt & Whitney will receive $1.7 million. According to program officials, these contracts will focus on activities preliminary to building actual aircraft, such as buying components, vendor start-up and other procurement costs. The first of the F-22 PRTV aircraft is scheduled for delivery to the Air Force by March 2002 for force development evaluation activities at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. The F-22 air superiority fighter is being developed to counter lethal threats posed by advanced, surface-to-air missile systems and next-generation fighters equipped with "launch-and-leave" missiles. Designed to replace the aging F-15, the aircraft will combine low-observable, advanced avionics and super-cruise technologies. 000003. Commissaries change visitor policy by Army Staff Sgt. Kathleen T. Rhem American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- Thanks to a recent change, authorized customers can now bring guests in while they shop at most commissaries. Under the policy, identification cards are checked at the checkout lane instead of the door. This still limits purchases to authorized customers. Visitors are not allowed to purchase commissary goods, officials said, and only visitors accompanied by an authorized shopper are allowed in a store. Commissary officials maintain the right to spot check for unauthorized people in their stores. "The new visitors policy allows access to the benefit for patrons who otherwise might be inhibited from using what is rightly theirs," John F. McGowan said. McGowan is chief executive officer for the Defense Commissary Agency. For instance, commissary officials said, shoppers have asked if they could bring in relatives visiting from out of town rather than making them wait in the car. DeCA had also heard from military spouses who found it difficult to use the commissary when they provided home day care, officials said. "This policy was established as an enhancement to the quality of life of our commissary patrons," DeCA spokesman Timothy C. Ford said. "Many patrons, both active duty and retired, have complained about having to leave a visiting mother, father, brother, niece, or other family member at home or waiting in a car while making routine grocery purchases. "It also became increasingly difficult to justify not permitting visitor access to commissaries in cases where visitors are allowed in almost all other service or retail facilities on an installation," he said. Commissary officials added that installation or higher-level commanders may still require ID checks for entry because the policy allows exceptions due to security concerns. To date, about a dozen of the more than 300 commissaries worldwide still require ID checks at the door, Ford said. "For example, commissaries working with local commanders in Okinawa, Japan, tried the new policy, but will return ID checks to the front doors in response to customer concerns," he said. **COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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