Press Release 163 10 Dec.

NATO Ready for Y2K NATO is confident that it is fully prepared to meet the Y2K challenges which will be upon us at the turn of the year. NATO will be able to conduct all its critical missions, including peace-keeping related to the Balkans in the days and weeks thereafter, unhampered by any Y2K technical failures or malfunctions. The NATO Staffs have worked hard to implement the necessary corrective measures and develop contingency plans to ensure that its Brussels headquarters, the major NATO military commands - SHAPE in Mons, Belgium, and SACLANT in Norfolk, Virginia, USA - their subordinate commands and other NATO agencies will remain fully functional during this period. NATO has been addressing this problem since 1998. It has created an Integrated Project Team, chaired by the Assistant Secretary General for Defence Support, with key assistance provided by personnel at NATO headquarters, SHAPE, SACLANT and many other NATO agencies. Over 30 military and civilian mission-critical NATO owned systems were identified. These include consultation, command and control systems. For all these, corrective and contingency measures have been instituted to ensure the smooth continuation of NATO's critical missions into the next century.

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