Notes for John Koskinen

As part of the (U.S.) government's Year 2000 Community Conversations campaign, John Koskinen spoke at a Press Conference held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Monday, May 24, 1999. The following are (mostly) excerpts taken from that speech. They're here to give anyone interested in leaving him a message in the "Notes to John K." forum a sense of what he's actually said regarding y2k and local communities. Reading through them will help minimize redundancy... "Most services are delivered locally. And the greatest domestic risk for Y2K-related failures is at the local level... "In many communities, there has been a lack of effort or attention to this problem increasingly on the theory that 'we can wait and see what happens, and then fix systems after they break or cease to function.' Or, in other communities where a significant amount of work has been going on, there's been a great reluctance on sharing information with the public about the status of that work, the work that remains to be done and the appropriate responses to be taken by the communities... "The goal is to provide factual information on a community-by-community basis about what the status of the work on the Year 2000 is in that community, what work remains to be done, what the risks are and what preparations are appropriate for each community in light of the risk that are in that community... "[At this late date] it's critical even for those who think they're done [with their year 2000 computer remediation projects], to have appropriate contingency plans and back-up plans, business continuity plans. That's when you think you're done. It is even more critical, if you are late starting, to understand if your plan is to be finished in November or December, you have very little margin for error. And you need at the same time you're working on remediation and testing and implementation of systems, you need to be working on appropriate contingency and back-up plans. And as we've said here today, you need to be discussing those and sharing those and developing those with your local community. "The information we [the President's Council] have about this is that the people most likely to be starting late are smaller and medium-sized organizations in the public and private sector... "Our concern is the people, whether they're the city manager, the mayor, the county executive, or the CEO of a local service provider who says "You know, it's not such a big deal. We'll just wait and see what breaks, and then we'll fix it." And we think that's a very high-risk roll of the dice. And we think that they are likely to be at the end of a very long line of other people who waited to see what broke and fixed it. And they are not in fact discharging adequately their responsibilities to their citizens and their customers. "Our view is we have a lot of confidence in the common sense of the American public. And we think if you can get facts in their hands, real information about what's going on in each of the critical institutions they depend upon, they'll respond appropriately, particularly in a context if they understand that we are working on this nationally across industry lines as well as locally. But ultimately, the issue gets decided at the local level. "As I've told people, our goal is not to get through December 31st, which would be a lot of the area where people are worried about a reaction. Our goal is to get through the first couple of months of next year. And so we do not want people unprepared.'' Elsewhere, regarding the apathy most are seeing in their communities, and what community members should be doing in terms of preparedness, he had this to say: "The difficult issue we've been dealing with for some time is that the increasing positive news nationally does not mean that there won't be problems. They're just more likely to be confined to local areas, especially where the local organizations are not taking appropriate action. But, people looking for single answers, not complicated ones, have generally picked up on the national aspect because, at the time, the focus was national. I am concerned, as you are, that that narrow focus can encourage people to say, at the local level, that this is no big deal and we can go on about our lives." "To try to address this problem, I've tried to be even clearer the past few weeks that we've got good news and bad news since people seem to get that better. Also, as we move through the community conversations we're going to stress more and more that there are no guarantees which is why all the major companies and organizations, including the Federal government, are developing or updating their contingency and emergency preparedness plans. If they're doing it, everyone should be doing it, especially local communities, particularly those where the critical service providers won't talk in factual detail about the status of their readiness." About the Notes to John K. Forum After being made aware of this forum, John Koskinen had this to say: "In regards to the forum you've set up, yes, that's all right with me. I always appreciate getting the feedback from the real world. In particular, I'd be pleased to receive feedback from community meetings around the country over the summer in terms of how they went, how many attended, etc. And while I won't be able to respond very often, please assure everyone that their messages will get read." Four things ~ Please be as concise as possible. To avoid redundancy, be aware of what others have written before posting your messages. When you post new messages, please use descriptive subject titles to make it easier for everyone to recognize notes that might be similar to what they're thinking. While he'll be reading what's posted, please don't expect Mr. Koskinen to reply individually, or "assume the worst" if he doesn't reply at all. He may (individually or in some kind of summary fashion), but is "under no obligation." Forum Basics ~ To read what others have posted, click the subject/title lines on the "New Questions" list. To leave a new message, click ''Ask a Question'' on the forum's main level, and, in the text entry area that comes up, give it a title that decribes its main theme (if possible), type or paste your message into the text entry box, and "Submit" it. If there's something you'd like to add related to someone else's note, just click ''Contribute an answer'' (at the bottom of the thread the comment's in), and type or paste and "Submit" your comments. If you'd like to receive emailed copies of entries or additions to the forum, click ''add an alert'' near the bottom of the forum's main screen. If you get confused, click the ''About'' link near the top of the forum's main screen. (You'll find all the basics needed to operate the software.) Clicking the ''Publisher'' link near the top of the forum's main screen will return you to the Millennium Salons main page.

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