Sens. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, and Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., warned top North Atlantic Treaty Organization officials Tuesday that Y2K computer glitches could hurt ongoing and future peacekeeping missions.
"Y2K failures both in NATO systems and those of member nations could impact logistic support and force management," wrote Bennett and Dodd, who lead the Senate's special Y2K committee. "Y2K failures could substantially impede NATO, potentially compromising missions."
NATO leaders will be in Washington later this week to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the organization. Bennett and Dodd sent their letter to NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana, European Allied Commander Gen. Wesley Clark and U.S. NATO representative Alexander Vershbow.
Bennett and Dodd worry that NATO command and communications systems may not be ready for the 2000 date change. They urged NATO leaders to address the issue at this week's summit. "While information technology managers may be able to assure that components of critical systems are operations, orchestrating the broad contingency plans that would be required in the event of a failure is something only a commander can accomplish."
The Defense Department still has 156 mission-critical computers it needs to address and was only 72 percent Y2K compliant by the federal government's March 31 deadline.
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