With the approach of the year 2000, President Clinton is appealing for urgent action to prepare for a "millennium bug" in computers that could disrupt banking, aviation, phone service and nearly every other aspect of life in the Information Age.
"The solution, unfortunately, is massive, painstaking and labor-intensive," Clinton said Tuesday in a speech that marked his most extensive public comments on the subject.He said there are "gaping holes" in how the federal government and private business are preparing for the Year 2000 computer problem, but that progress is being made.
"Because the difficulty is as far-flung as the billions of microchips that run everything from farm equipment to VCRs, this is not a challenge that is susceptible to a single government program or an easy fix," Clinton said in the speech at the National Academy of Sciences.
Since most computer software programs recognize only the last two digits of a year, the arrival of the year 2000 will cause many to malfunction unless fixes are in place. Without a remedy, these computers will think Jan. 1, 2000, is the same day a full century earlier.
Computer experts warn that when 2000 arrives, many countries could face widespread power outages, transportation foul-ups and telecommunications failures because of confused computers.
Clinton tempered his call for urgent action on the "Y2K" solution with upbeat assurances that federal agencies will not allow interruptions in customer service. He noted that all agencies are under orders to have their Y2K remedies ready by next March.
Harris Miller, president of the Information Technology Association of America, which represents computer software and other information companies, said Clinton's speech was on target in pointing out both the progress and problems here and abroad.
"I would have preferred that he had given this speech a year and a half ago," Miller said.
Steve Forbes, a prospective Republican presidential candidate in 2000, issued a statement welcoming Clinton's speech while accusing him of "unconscionable delay" in pressing the issue.
Forbes also warned that lawyers are poised to profit hugely from Y2K computer failures.
"Trails lawyers smell blood in the water," Forbes said. He urged Clinton to back legislation that would protect U.S. businesses from lawsuits resulting from such computer glitches.
Clinton announced he would propose "Good Samaritan" legislation to protect from legal liability those who provide a clearinghouse function by sharing Year 2000-related information. But the proposed legislation would not protect them from liability arising from actual Y2K failures in their computer systems.
Clinton also said the administration wants to call out of retirement some civilian and military computer specialists who programmed some of the government's oldest computers.
"I will ask these older Americans to set aside their well-earned rest and help our nation to meet this challenge," Clinton said.
John Koskinen, chairman of the Year 2000 Conversion Council that is overseeing the government's work on the problem, later told reporters that some of the biggest federal agencies are behind schedule in fixing the bug.
These include the Departments of Defense, Health and Human Ser-vices.
Best prepared are the Social Security Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency and NASA.
Koskinen said most of the "mission critical" federal computer systems should be ready by Clinton's target date of March 31, 1999.
Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, who chairs the Senate Committee on the Year 2000, said he was pleased to have Clinton on board.