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November 15, 1999
Web posted at: 4:23 PM EST (2123 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Row upon row of blank computer screens sit on empty desks all facing a glassed-in conference room brightly lit by big screen television sets and the large plasma computer screens. It looks like a 'situation' room, and indeed it is.

It is the Information Coordination Center for the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion, a center for monitoring computer system failures when the new millennium arrives. The "ICC" as officials like to call it will serve as the U.S. government's central point for gathering and analyzing information on the operations of vital computer systems in state and federal government, the private sector -- including banks and utilities -- and international systems as the year 2000 rollover, hour by hour, takes place.

The U.S. government has spent some $50 million on this facility and adjacent rooms where news organizations should, in theory, be able to report on how the rollover is going, where the trouble spots are and where they are not. However, for now, reporters and camera crews will not be permitted to enter the operations center. Instead, officials promise regular briefings for updates on what's happening and reporters will have to take their word for it.

The system should work something like this: If there is a power failure during the date rollover, the utility informs the U.S. Department of Energy. DOE then reports that information to its desk in the ICC. The ICC will not be able to tell a utility how to fix the problem, but it "will be focused on how to best share information on the status of system operations to increase the likelihood that expert assistance is available to organizations that are in need and requesting help," according to literature handed out to reporters during a media walk-through Monday.

If state and local governments experience computer system problems during rollover, the Federal Emergency Management Agency will be the primary contact and will forward such information to the ICC.

John Koskinen, chairman of the President's Council on Y2K Conversion, told reporters, "The challenge of Y2K is that we may be dealing with domestic issues at the same time as we're dealing with international issues, and there may be competing needs or demands or requests for resources."

The ICC, which is expected to fill most positions from personnel picked from government agencies, will begin 24-hour operations beginning Thursday, December 30, and continue for at least the first few days of January 2000.

Koskinen said since many businesses won't be open until Monday, January 3, it may be that long or longer before all trouble spots are known.

CNN Correspondent Brad Wright contributed to this report.