U.S. CUSTOMS SAYS IT’s READY FOR Y2K

U.S. CUSTOMS SAYS ITÆS READY FOR Y2K       Many U.S. Customs officials will be celebrating the turn of the millennium in front of their computer screens on heightened alert over New Year’s weekend, as the agency’s computer clock switches to 2000.
   The agency also has set up an emergency response center at its Office of Information and Technology in Newington, Va., to deal with any Y2K disasters.
   “We’re ready,” said Terrence Spellane, manager of Customs’ emergency response center. “We’ve tested and retested. We have our procedures in place and ready to go.”
   Senior Customs officials, such as Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly and Assistant Commissioners S.W. “Woody” Hall Jr., Charles W. Winwood, Bonnie Tischler and Wayne Hamilton, are expected to be at the center during the Y2K countdown. About 110 technical staffers will work in three eight- to 12-hour shifts to monitor about 1,000 U.S. Customs offices worldwide.
   Between Dec. 31 and Jan. 3, Customs is required to report its Y2K status to Treasury every four hours. Treasury, in turn, compiles these reports with those of its other bureaus for the White House’s Information Coordination Center. Y2K reports to Treasury will decrease to twice daily from Jan. 4 to 7.
   Government and business computers that don’t recognize year 2000 data may shutdown. Customs finished reprogramming 6 million lines of code in its 16-year-old Automated Commercial System in October 1998. The agency has spent the past year testing internally and with the industry.
   Customs must also contend with possible technical glitches because of Leap Year. The agency will be on heightened alert at Newington from Feb. 28 to March 1. Customs will provide Treasury with status reports twice daily during this time.