The Spy System that Snagged DOD
Conventional wisdom has it that U.S. intelligence satellites are so powerful they can record the license plates on cars driven past the Kremlin from their posts in outer space. But on New Year's Eve, the military's secret birds apparently weren't behaving.
The Defense Department admits that it was unable to receive or process information from one of its intelligence satellites for several hours because of a date-related problem with the satellite's ground-based processing station. However, DOD officials say they maintained control over the satellite during this timeframe.
The satellite in question provides "a significant source of information in our national intelligence capabilities," admits Deputy Secretary of Defense John Hamre. "Fortunately, because we were able to restore operations through the backup procedures so quickly, it has an insignificant impact when we looked back in retrospect."
Flying the not-so-friendly skies
The nation's air traffic control system suffered several Y2K-related problems at midnight on New Year's Eve.
Low-level Windshear Alert systems failed at six airports including Chicago O'Hare, the nation's busiest airport, during the rollover. But all systems were up and running in about two hours, and impact on operations was minimal, FAA officials say. Similar windshear systems at four other airports displayed erroneous dates, but system operations were not affected at all by this problem, according to the FAA.
Meanwhile, an FAA weather system in Atlanta stopped recognizing and processing certain kinds of Notices to Airmen-dispatches for pilots-because of a software problem involving a failure to recognize years ending in "0." This forced the FAA to rename and reroute these notices through alternative computer systems until a patch was provided on January 1.
In addition, data terminals used for an FAA power conditioning system displayed the date "1900" at four locations. The problem had been identified and fixed in terminals at other locations but somehow the correction was not made at these four sites, FAA officials say.
"On average, there are about 25 failures a day on the more than 40,000 pieces of equipment in the nation's air traffic control system," says FAA spokesman Frasier Jones. "None of these Y2K glitches affected our ability to conduct surveillance or communicate with aircraft. Pilots could talk to controllers and vice versa."
Less guns for buyers
Companies looking to sell firearms will have to wait a few extra days to receive their federal licenses, thanks to a Y2K-related problem experienced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms last week.
The ATF shut down its Firearms Licensing System for several days because the system could not read the correct date on incoming applications from gun dealers. The system handles about 5,000 firearms applications per month, and it takes between six to eight weeks for an application to be processed.
Other law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, use the system to verify licensed gun dealers.
Riding the rails
Two of the nation's train systems experienced minor date-related problems.
Amtrak officials reported that the Philadelphia Control Center would not retain train symbols as a train progressed on the system. So officials inserted the symbols manually and reset the system's date. The system worked fine after that.
Meanwhile, San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit system experienced a failure of two systems used for time clocks, but officials reported no impact on their operations.
Contact Senior Editor Carolyn Duffy Marsan
Other recent articles by Marsan
Y2K efforts have long-term benefitsNetwork World, 01/10/00.
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