-Caveat Lector-
<< Clinton set to declare
national emergency
More than 50 simultaneous Y2K crises
expected, stretching resources to limit
<hr size="1">
By David M. Bresnahan
© 1999 WorldNetDaily.com
President Clinton has already made plans to declare a nationalemergency
because of expected disruptions caused by the Y2K computer problem, according
to Federal Emergency Management Agency documents.
A final training session followed by a mock Y2K disaster exercisewill include
the actual disruptions and problems that Y2K emergency planners believe will
take place during the change to the New Year.
Plans for the emergency declaration were made known to Federal Emergency
Management Agency officials and other federal employees in preparation for
use of the Information Coordination Center, set up by the President's Council
on the Year 2000 conversion. The plans were also given to the Senate
Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem.
The staff on hand at the Information Coordination Center have been told to
expect a presidential declaration of a national emergency. FEMA staff who
will run the regional emergency operation centers have also beentold the same
thing.
"Should it become necessary, a presidential 'emergency,' rather than a 'major
disaster,' will be declared, and assistance will be focused on addressing
threats to life, health, safety, and property," the Senate committee was told
in a report from Lacy E. Suiter from the Response and Recovery Directorate of
FEMA.
A national emergency will be declared because FEMA officials haveconcluded
that there will be more than 50 simultaneous Y2K-related disruptions
throughout the country, which will stretch the nation's local, state and
national emergency resources to the limit.
The Department of Defense is so concerned that the deputy secretary of
defense, John J. Hamre, has issued a memorandum to commanders in the field to
be very cautious about using the military to assist civil agencies. Hamre
said local requests for help might seem appropriate, but he warned local
commanders to be cautious about using the military to help with Y2K
disruptions.
"Immediate responses that appear rational from a local perspective,but could
collectively undermine the department's ability to execute operational
missions" should be ruled out, said Hamre.
Hamre has ordered commanders to avoid using the military for Y2Kproblems
unless there is a threat to life or damage to property. The warning applies
to domestic as well as international requests for help.
The anticipation of a multitude of simultaneous problems that would stretch
the ability of the government to respond is the driving forcebehind the plans
for declaration of a national emergency.
Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, told WorldNetDaily there is a very real fear
that the enemies of the United States could conduct domestic terrorist
attacks because they will expect the country to be weakened due to the
military's having to deal with Y2K disruptions. He said there is also a
possibility that cyber-terrorism attacks might even try to sabotage computers
to create what appear to be Y2K computer failures, in order to enhance
opportunities for terrorists to conduct further attacks on U.S. cities.
Suiter says many small, localized disruptions are expected to occur.Response
should come from local and state agencies "to the maximum extent possible,"
he said. FEMA has been conducting training for local police and fire
officials in an effort to help them be better preparedfor Y2K emergencies and
reduce the need for federal assistance.
FEMA officials who attended training in each of the 10 FEMA regions were told
a major disaster declaration was ruled out because the Y2K problems will not
"involve a natural disaster," according to the presentationmaterials used and
provided to WorldNetDaily.
"A presidential 'emergency' rather than 'major disaster' declaration will be
made if Y2K consequences exceed state/local response resources," FEMA staff
and other federal agencies were told at the regionalmeetings.
Peter Kind of the Information Coordination Center sent a memorandumto staff
members to guide them in preparations for final training exercises Dec. 6 to
9. He wants the exercises to be as real as possible, and asked for
recommendations on what Y2K problems are actually expected.
Although Suiter claims "no one knows for sure what will happenfollowing
rollover to January 1," those who will staff the Information Coordination
Center have been asked by Kind to submit a list of the most likely Y2K
disruptions for use in the final Y2K disaster training and exercise.
"We want to exercise the rollover sequence with special emphasis on what
could happen when, as midnight and subsequent critical periods such as
business hours, opening of financial markets, etc., follow the timeline
westward. We invite you to help identify the high probability and high-risk
items that might occur, by time zone, both for use in theexercise and to help
prepare us all," requested Kind.
Past exercises conducted by FEMA and other emergency organizations have
always stressed that they do not know what problems to expect when theNew
Year begins.
"In order to make the December exercise as realistic as possible, we ask that
you provide your ICC core staff contact with your best estimates of
possible incidents, anomalies or other systems operation events most likely
to be seen during the Millennium Rollover (sic). Receipt of this type
information by November 24 will ensure that it will be incorporated into the
exercise scenarios when and where appropriate," said the instructions to ICC
staff.
"We are hoping for the best, but taking necessary and prudent stepsto prepare
for any contingencies," said Suiter.
Although emergency planners may be planning for the worst, their Y2K
preparation materials provided to the public do not suggest that the general
public take the same precautions. The Federal Emergency and Management Agency
and Red Cross Y2K disaster planning guides recommend preparations that, in
effect, advise the public to have a 72-hour kit similar to what would be
needed for a winter storm.
The Information Coordination Center is scheduled to be staffed 24hours a day
beginning Dec. 28 and continuing at least until Jan. 7. Plans include an
option to extend the date if the national emergency continues. Virtually all
federal employees, including FBI and members of the military, have had
vacation time canceled to enable them to be ready for action if needed. Civil
agencies all across the country have issued similar restrictions for police,
fire and other vital services to be oncall or on duty.
"The emergency management community may be facing a potential disruption
scenario that it has not dealt with before: simultaneous disruptions in all
50 States and six territories that may require federal emergency
declarations. In addition, we may have numerous weather-related major
disaster declarations to address during this time frame," explainedSuiter.
John Koskinen, head of the President's Council on the Year 2000 Conversion,
is concerned there may be problems caused inadvertently. He is warning people
not to pick up the phone just after the start of the New Year and make a call
"just to see if it works." He said too many attempts to make calls all at the
same time would shut down the entirephone system.
He also warned that the public may be fooled by normal failures and think
they are caused by the Y2K computer bug. ATM cash machines, phone service and
electric services all have localized failures on a regular basis. One of
those types of failures may happen right on Jan. 1 and create a mistaken
belief that a Y2K failure has occurred when it reallyhas not.
"The presumption is to blame all failures on Y2K that weekend," Koskinen
said, and Bennett agreed. He said the public must help to reduce thedemand on
the system at a difficult time.
WorldNetDaily has learned that a computer hacker was able to alter the
website run by the Commerce Department recently. A message was displayed
that said: "Run for your lives! Hit your computer's power button and never
turn it on again." The hacker was reported to be making a statement about
potential Y2K problems and trying to illustrate weaknesses in the government
computer system that would permit a computer terrorist access to government
systems. The hacker identifiedhimself only as "Comdex0r."
Koskinen said there are many such attacks on government computers all the
time. He said hackers will be easily detected during the Y2K rollover period
because there will be tighter security at that time. Koskinen asked
"recreational hackers" to stay away during the date change rather than
complicate what is anticipated to be a difficult time for government
agencies. "This is not the best time to do that,"Koskinen said.
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>>
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