The State Department is not managing year 2000 computer fixes effectively, raising concerns that the millennium bug will disable key foreign policy operations, the General Accounting Office has reported.
State has only recently figured out how systems failures would affect the department's missions, GAO reported in Year 2000 Computing Crisis: State Department Needs To Make Fundamental Improvements To Its Year 2000 Program (AIMD-98-162). The department has completely renovated, tested and implemented Y2K fixes on only two of its 40 mission-critical computer systems.
In addition, State has not identified all the interfaces its computer systems have with outside computer systems. The department has also failed to prioritize Y2K fixes, GAO found. That means some non-essential computer systems are being fixed ahead of mission-critical systems.
"State is making better progress on its non-mission-critical systems than on its mission-critical systems," GAO said. "For example, 31, or 21 percent, of non-mission-critical systems have reportedly completed the implementation phase, while only 2, or 5 percent, of mission-critical systems have done so."
GAO noted that State has taken a number of important steps to improve Y2K readiness, including appointing a Y2K project manager, bringing in a management consultant to aid the department's bureaus in their Y2K efforts, and making assistant secretaries responsible for their bureaus' preparation.
But the department is simply not moving fast enough, GAO concluded. For example, State had originally planned to replace its Wang VS systems with Y2K-compliant Windows NT systems. But delays in switching over mean the department may still have non-compliant Wang systems running at the turn of the century. Many of those systems perform administrative functions overseas.
Computer systems that handle immigrant visas and embassy security are among those in danger of failing to meet the Y2K deadline, GAO said.
The State Department agreed with GAO's findings and has been stepping up its Y2K efforts, acting chief financial officer Kathleen Charles said in a written response to the report.