The modern military is a computerized military. The computers are going down.

The Department of Defense's computers use such ancient languages as CS-1, CMS-2, JOVIAL,TACPOL, NELIAC. Hardly anyone still programs in these languages any more. These systems are not 2000-compliant. Congressman Stephen Horn's subcommittee estimated in 1996 that the DoD has 358 million lines of code to go through. Nobody really knows, including the DoD.

The DoD interacts with the military commands of all the other Western nations. If their computers also are not compliant, warns Asst. Sec. of Defense Emmett Paige, Jr., then they will send corrupt data into our corrected computers. This is the optimistic view, of course; it assumes that our computers will be compliant.

High-tech weaponry delivers more bang for the buck. What happens if the systems go down? This assumes, of course, that the banks are still functioning -- bucks. If they aren't, then we'll get no bang for no bucks.

It can't happen, right? Well, if the military is so smart, why was the Geopositioning Satellite System (GPS) programmed to lose 1,024 weeks on August 22, 1999? The satellite system that tells our ships where they are, our tanks where they are, and our launched missiles where they are has a glitch in it.

The Navy has posted a warning on the Web telling us that when the system rolls back 1,024 weeks, it isn't the Navy's responsibility. It's the user's responsibility. It's up to us to buy year-1999 compliant positioning devices . . . 10 million of them (not counting the missiles).

Someone better tell Bill Buckley to stay off his yacht on 22 Aug. 1999 unless he has upgraded his equipment.

When the West loses its ability to defend itself, what happens to the legitimacy of Western governments? They will go the way of the feudal knight. Like the giant horses bred for knights in armor about the time of the advent of gunpowder, so is the West's high-tech army.

It's the revenge of Saddam Hussein.

Red China will be the big winner. It has the largest army on earth and a huge, World War II navy. After January 1, 2000, a World War II navy will be the most advanced navy on earth.

When the Taiwanese figure this out, they are going to sell their U.S. T-bills. Then watch U.S. interest rates climb higher than an unguided missile. (Other categories: "Government," "Noncompliant Chips," "Banking.")

Updated -	Subject
30-Jan-97	Navy's Satellite System: Breakdown on 22 Aug. 1999
10-Feb-97	302 Systems Compliant; 7,000 Noncompliant
12-Feb-97	Russia's Defense System: Same Problem?
19-Feb-97	Military Non-Preparedness
24-Feb-97	Flying Blind Inside the Defense Department
03-Mar-97	The Military's Assessment of the Year 2000 Problem
05-May-97	Army Places Y2K at the Top of Its Computer Priority List
28-Jul-97	Military Relies on Noncompliant Private Sector
30-Jul-97	Army Rolls into High Gear: Y2K Is Top Priority
20-Aug-97	Critical System Not Yet Fixed
22-Aug-97	The GAO Says that the Military Is in Trouble
17-Sep-97	Another Failure: Global Command & Control (Aug., 1997)
18-Sep-97	90,000 Items Missing
19-Sep-97	Way, Way Behind at DoD
19-Sep-97	Percent Completed: 0
19-Sep-97	Navy Says Y2K Could Become Catastrophic
02-Oct-97	British Promise: December 1998 (Heard This Before?)
04-Oct-97	40% Renovated in Just a Few Months! A Miracle!
04-Oct-97	GAO Warns Army: Too Far Behind
21-Oct-97	No, No, NORAD: The Problem of Locating the Satellites
27-Oct-97	NORAD: The Photo Is Revealing
28-Oct-97	A Catalogue of Horrors Posted by the U.S. Navy
03-Nov-97	No Standard for Fixing the Dates
04-Nov-97	The Coast Guard Ran into Problems This Year
04-Nov-97	The Army's Fall-Back Positions: Wing & Prayer
04-Nov-97	Air Force Document Reveals Y2K Problem Areas
20-Nov-97	A Gigantic Task: Repairing Just One Operation
29-Dec-97	Estimated Y2K Compliance: 2005
20-Jan-98	Defending the Pacific: Computer-Dependent
23-Jan-98	Breakdown in U.S. Military Global Command System
06-Feb-98	The Three Key Y2K Officials Resign
25-Feb-98	Army Promises to Be Ready to Test Repairs in June, 1998
26-Feb-98	Information Warfare: What Y2K Represents
02-Mar-98	Warning to DoD: Get a Y2K Czar and Fund Him, Fast!
03-Mar-98	Mission-Critical Air Force Repair: Begun, 1995; Still Not Finished
03-Mar-98	3-Star Air Force General Admits: AF Won't Be Compliant
21-Mar-98	New Y2K Czar: Procurement Expert
25-Mar-98	US Nuclear Missiles at Risk, Says Y2K Czar
15-Apr-98	Army Steals Food in North Korea
20-Apr-98	U.S. Defense System's Communications May Crash in 1999
02-May-98	Marine Officers Train in Chicago for Future Urban Combat
05-May-98	GAO Warns That Military Is Way Behind
06-May-98	Army Has Over 200,000 Noncompliant Systems and Devices
06-May-98	The Air Force Is Facing a Potential Disaster
07-May-98	GPS System: Repair Will Be 3 Months After Shutdown
07-May-98	Y2K Is a Good Thing, Really, Says Defense Dept. Official
12-May-98	Coast Guard Suffers Y2K Glitches
18-May-98	Partial Y2K Blackout Begins in U.S. Military
18-May-98	Navy Has Not Completed Its Inventory (1% of a Y2K Repair)
20-May-98	No Testing Agency, No Contingency Plans
23-May-98	No Problem for Army Computers, Says Official
23-May-98	Marines Will Use Y2K SWAT Teams
25-May-98	GAO Report: Military Has No Systematic Y2K Program
01-Jun-98	Army's Contingency Plans Due June 1
06-Jun-98	Soviet Threat if Screens Go Blank, Says Official
08-Jun-98	The U.S. Army's Gigantic Problem Outlined
08-Jun-98	17,000 of DoD's 88,000 Communications System Are Noncompliant
08-Jun-98	Two-Thirds of the U.S. Army's Systems Are not Compliant
10-Jun-98	Asst. Sec. of Defense Says, U.S. Is at Risk: Y2K/Cyberterrorism
12-Jun-98	A Simple Way to Improve Statistics: Lie