From: pemorris@digitalexp.com Subject: Southeast nuclear plant

Ron is a friend of mine here who is a y2k activist. He heads up our computer network but we are going to lose him because he has been selected as the new CIO for the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta. Here is an interesting bit of evidence he told me about:

"Have a neighbor who built a house at the end of my road. Only house down there, faces away from the road toward the water, made out of concrete blocks, no windows in the front or side towards the road. Eight foot chainlink, razor wire at the top.

"I observed the house being built from time to time and marveled at the structure and who could want such a house. Neighbor moved in around May of 98. Didn't meet him until April this year. Didn't have a clue as to who he was, where he worked,etc. Keep completely to themselves. When I met him I discovered that he is a senior engineer at a certain nuclear plant. We discussed Y2K and the grid. He told me that there were approximately 5,000 embedded chips in a nuclear facility and that there was absolutely no way to know which chips might fail. He also said that the utility he worked for had publicly stated that they were compliant, however, teams from "his" facility had been traveling all over the southeast in a desperate attempt to bring other facilities far enough into compliance that perhaps they could get a waiver to continue operating.

"I lamely pointed down the road at his house and asked "do I take the structure of your house to indicate the confidence you have in the grid?" He replied, "you might say that". Last time I've talked to him."

-- Walter S. Skold (wsvnsk2@juno.com), July 14, 1999

Answers

I wish him luck at the CDC. His work there will be very important.

-- Robert A Cook, PE (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), July 14, 1999.

How the hell to you get Planning and Zoning to OK a bunker/prison structure? This story sounds fishy.

-- ace (x@y.z), July 14, 1999.

Ain't no planning nor zoning to meddle with this in many parts of our county.

-- BigDog (BigDog@duffer.com), July 14, 1999.

Why is it that everytime someone posts an anecdote the optimists naysay it?

Let's think this through. The guy is claimed to be an engineer. If the house is in the south then concrete would be a normal material to build with. As far as the fence and razor wire, well, go to any gated 'community' in the south and try to walk in. They have armed gaurds all over the place. If the house faces north then this is set up to minimize solar gain (and minimize cooling requirements).

The fellow is claimed to be an egineer at a nuke plant. Insinuated that they are too complex to fix. Nothing in the post is an extravagant claim we don't already see pertaining to complex systems (such as oil platforms, refineries and chem plants). We know that FOF is one of the modus operandi of much of industrial-land.

So file this for future reference.

An anecdote.

-- ..- (dit@dot.dash), July 14, 1999.

There's enough information in the "anecdote" to verify the house, at least. CDC appointments aren't secret. Who's volunteering?

-- Sam Spade (PI@windowlessoffice.com), July 15, 1999.

The claimis that "Ron" (the apparent incoming CIO of the CDC) had a neighbor (in his (Ron's) old neighborhood) who built a house this way for the reason's cited.

Let us let RON get into the business of fixing Atlanta's CDC without further interference. That job, because of the biological contaminents and threats involved if they are released from containment, is critical.

-- Robert A Cook, PE (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), July 15, 1999.

the point is not the critical nature of the man's new job. The critical point is the CDC will not be able to perform it's functions (and we have probably heard of plagues and diseases that are supposedly kept safe in storage at the CDC?) if the utilities cannot perform their functions. This is about only one man, maybe a lunatic. But, if he is a senior engineer and the brief exchange is accuract information, then lunatic would not seem realistic. This man reminds me of an electric utility big shot in Colorado (don't have the source off-hand. capital crime,eh) who has 10 cords of wood at home when he never had that much before. Actions often speak louder than words...

-- walter skold (wsvnsk2@juno.com), July 15, 1999.

Look, man, I am not even interested in mixing up Y2K with The Stand.

One catastrophe at a time, please.

-- Lisa (lisa@work.now), July 15, 1999.

But Walter - there are two people involved: the new CIO for the CDC, and his neighbor who apparently is greatly concerned about power and services next year. Who, literally, if the story is valid, has a true "bunker mentality" - well, that's his choice.

I'm looking at the braoder pciture - for example, why is the CDC changing its CIO now, with slightly over 5 months before rollover? Is that really enough time to get contingency plans written, analyzed, implemented, and the material purchased? Is it enough time (if the current remediation is "behind schedule" to recover, or even to identify what "failure modes" are possible?

If I've misunderstood the initial story, please correct me. But, you do need to look at the bigger picture to find the real potential failures that will affect more people than one neighbor.

-- Robert A Cook, PE (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), July 15, 1999.

Here's the CDC org chart: CDC Information Resources Management Office

Shows one "Judith Kenny" (Chief of MIS) is acting CIO. Also shows that they have an acting Chief for their Information Center, meaning they're currently "two heads down" on management staffing.

I'll rummage through CDC announcements and suchlike and see if they've actually named a CIO and just haven't updated the Web org chart...

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.hid), July 15, 1999.

Haven't found any confirmation of a new hire for CDC CIO. Tried to find a current status report on their Y2K project, but the quarterly reports stop at the end of December, 1998. However, I did find the CDC Y2K project plan, which was last updated May 26, 1999:

CDC/ATSDR Year 2000 Compliance Project Plan

They started in 1996 and have been cranking on "Repair, Replace, or Retire" ever since. Some comments elsewhere that they served as a model for other HHS departments and organizations.

If the CIO left, it may be that he/she did such a good job here that they got "cherry-picked" by another agency or by the private $ector...

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.hid), July 15, 1999.

Well, according to the HHS employee directory, the current Director of CDC's IRMO (doncha just love all them acronyms?) is one Jim Seligman. His name is also in the IRMO Y2K Contingency Plan, which is dated August, 1998. So apparently Mr. Seligman left at some point after last August and Judith Kenny has been acting Director since then.

What's interesting is that CDC has posted a job opening for Judith Kenny's current position of Information Manager; the req states that "...the incumbent serves as Chief, CDC Information Center, Information Resources Management Office (IRMO), which serves as a specialized medical library and information resources for CDC." The req was opened June 6 and closes July 20.

This would seem to indicate one of three situations: (1) Judith Kenny is going to actually be given the CIO job, (2) she's taking another position within CDC, or (3) she too is leaving CDC. Option 1 contradicts the story about "Ron" taking the CIO job. Option 2 would be a bit odd, but not too unusual. Option 3 would be yet another resignation in CDC's IS department. We'll just have to wait and see...

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.hid), July 15, 1999.