Pentagon: "DOD will be ready for Year 2000"

The Pentagon, criticized for lagging in its effort to fix its computers for the Year 2000 bug, plans to announce at a press briefing tomorrow that it will have mission-critical computer systems ready for the new millennium.

John Hamre, deputy secretary of Defense, is expected to present the results of a "major review" of the Year 2000 readiness of Defense Department mission-critical systems Hamre and his staff conducted last weekend, a DOD spokeswoman said.

"We had a Y2K camp here last weekend, taking a look at where we have been and what we have done," the spokeswoman said, adding that "this is a good-news story, and we want to share our information. DOD will be ready for Year 2000."

DOD plans to hold the press conference at 1:30 p.m.

The positive report would represent a significant turnaround for DOD in its battle with the Year 2000 millennium bug. Last November, Rep. Stephen Horn (R-Calif.), who grades federal agencies' progress in fixing Year 2000 problems and who is chairman of the House Subcommittee on Government Management, Information and Technology, gave the Pentagon a D-minus for its Year 2000 progress.