Pentagon weapons systems, automatic teller machines, social security and disability checks, card-key access systems, and clock thermostats are only a few of the predicted computer casualties—among many others—threatening not only national security but causing world-wide mayhem as well.

Representative Constance A. Morella (Republican), chair of the technology subcommittee of the House Science Committee, labeled the much-feared 2000 glitch an "impending catastrophe."

Another Republican, Representative Stephen Horn, head of the computer subcommittee of the Government Reform and Oversight Committee urged all deliberate speed in addressing the expected traumas. "We have no choice at this point," he said, "but to double our rate of progress and then we must double our rate of progress again."

Two categories at which reforms are aimed have been identified as either "critical" or "non-critical". Problematic, however, remains the question as to which is which. Computer systems initially identified as non-critical may, in fact, turn out to be important to the smooth functioning of more important technical systems.

Currently, with 640-odd days to go, only 35% of the government's computers regarded as critical have been checked and fixed. Over 3,500 remain, and in spite of the over 4.7 billion tax dollars being spent this year and last on corrections, John Koskinen, the Presidential czar in charge of the Year 200 Council, says "this is money being spent primarily to stand still."

At this point, no witnesses testifying were able to tell Congress which critical computer systems might fail. A spokesperson for the Treasury Department, however, assured listeners that Social Security payments would continue to be made unhindered.

Computer specialists refer to the approaching apocalypse as Y2K, for the Year 2,000. The government's General Accounting Office, auditors for Congress, testified that "It is unlikely that agencies can complete this vast amount of work in time."

The remaining 3,500 critical systems that need fixing will, of necessity, be followed by 60,000 non-critical systems. These house "uncounted millions of embedded computer chips". The Pentagon alone, said Representative Horn, has 600,000 computer chips in its hardware. Many of these chips keep track of dates. Nobody yet knows whether they will malfunction if their dates go wrong.

Cabinet secretaries, Clinton appointees, and agency heads, according to testimonies, have so far avoided hands-on action to address the "impending catastrophe" and next-to-nothing has been put on agency tables that might suggest innovations to help circumvent the dreaded, seemingly unavoidable crash.