Clinton, in fact, has drawn some Republican criticism that he is being too laid back about the Y2K problem. The GOP chairmen of the House and Senate committees that have kept track of the government's efforts have accused Clinton of not pushing hard or fast enough to prevent crises. The Y2K bug is a glitch in older computer systems that read only two digits for the year portion of dates. That means the computers, if not fixed, could do some time traveling of their own and revert back to 1900, interrupting operations in virtually every segment of society. According to the consulting firm Edward Perlin Associates, more than 90 percent of major organizations have plans for staffing Friday night in anticipation of Y2K glitches.
Some aides plan to ring in the new era from their offices.
While the Clintons celebrate on the mall, the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion will be monitoring events from a command center a few blocks from the White House. It will collect data from about 180 countries as well as all 50 states. Everybody will be working hard to see how the country is making the transition. Koskinen said Clinton and Gore will receive briefings every few hours on information the command center receives from various agencies. The Federal Emergency Management Agency will report directly to Clinton on domestic matters, while the National Security Council, the Pentagon and the State Department will keep him abreast of international matters.