Investigation Reveals DoD Dept Falsified Y2K Readiness Report
A recent Defense Department Inspector General (IG) report revealed the falsification of readiness reports by the Defense Special Weapons Agency concerning their Year 2000 (Y2K) efforts. According to the IG report, the agency previously declared that their mission critical computers were Y2K compliant without testing three out of five of their mission critical computer systems. In addition, the report said that no contingency plans were developed in the event that their Y2K fix did not work.
"The report says that without corrective action, 'The Defense Special Weapons Agency...may be unable to execute its mission without undue disruption," said M.J. Zuckerman, USA Today, 27-29 November 1998. Agency spokesman, Capt. Allan Toole, claims that the agency's computers will be 100 percent compliant by April, 1999.
A report issued in July, 1997, by the General Accounting Office (GAO), warned the Congress that federal agencies may not be entirely forth coming on the actual condition of their Y2K efforts.
"Indications are that agency reports may not be accurate; those saying that assessment has been completed include HHS which, as I have highlighted today, still has much to do," as testified before the Congress on 10 July 1997, by Joel C. Willemssen, Director, Information Resources Management, Accounting and Information Management Division, General Accounting Office (GAO), Washington, D.C.
Although the Defense Special Weapons Agency has yet to conduct crucial Y2K tests on their mission critical computer systems, Captain Allan Toole said that the department will be 100 percent Y2K compliant by April, 1999. According to Toole, who was recently assigned the task of compliance, said that he has a good feeling about the department's Y2K situation.
The testing phase involves the validation of converted or replaced systems, platforms, applications, databases, interfaces, and utilities in an effort to verify their ability to handle a four-digit date code (i.e. 1999 vs 99). During this phase, performance, functionality, and integration of converted or replaced equipment/software, embedded or on the desktop are tested in an operational environment.
In the majority of departments and private Y2K efforts, the validation phase usually results in failures that must then be corrected, which is the purpose of "validation." Once the problems are found, engineers then attempt to fix the problems and then perform validation again, and again, until it works. The last phase is that of Implementation where all critical systems, interfaces, databases, etc., are corrected and tested.
Toole's expectation of Y2K readiness is not realistic, according to the GAO. "We expect that agencies may need over a year to adequately validate and test converted or replaced mission-critical systems for Year 2000 compliance, and that the testing and validation process may consume over half of the Year 2000 program resources and budget" (Year 2000 Computing Crisis: An Assessment Guide, General Accounting Office, September 1997).
Will the Defense Special Weapons Agency be Y2K ready on time? With the amount of work yet to be done, the GAO's research indicates that it is not likely. In fact, according to the GAO, every federal agency is at risk of widespread system failure and that only 12 out of 24 major departments will be operable after the date changes to 2000.
"...only half of the 24 departments and major agencies reported that they completed the assessment phase by the end of August 1997. The 12 agencies that have not completed the assessment phase account for about 70 percent of the estimated federal cost of achieving Year 2000 compliance" (Year 2000 Computing Crisis: An Assessment Guide, General Accounting Office, September 1997).
Allan B. Colombo (c)1998
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