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	Pentagon in Peril? By Declan McCullagh February 3, 1999 If there's one thing Frank Gaffney doesn't like, it's a liberal Democrat. And if there's one thing he likes even less than a liberal Democrat, it's a liberal Democrat who's messing with national security. So it should hardly be a surprise that Y2K has got Gaffney's goat. The uber-hawk who runs the Center for Security Policy late Monday fired off a spleen-venting fax charging that Bill Clinton is guilty of "dereliction of duty." No, it's not diddling interns and fibbing about it. Gaffney's ire comes from what he believes is the White House's lack of candor and leadership on all things Year 2000. He claims that has caused a desperate situation inside the Defense Department. "The Pentagon is unlikely to be able to ensure the functioning of even its most critical computer systems against the effects of [Y2K]... These risks have been unnecessarily increased by the Clinton administration's unwillingness to date to address this problem frontally and candidly for fear of creating panic, arousing controversy -- and possibly paying a political price for its dereliction of duty," Gaffney says. Of course, anything less than arming America to the teeth through major military spending endangers national security, according to Gaffney. On Tuesday, he blast-faxed another alert insisting that against all evidence and common sense, "Cuba Does Represent a Threat." (Yeah, maybe to itself.) For its part, the Pentagon disagrees. The head of the agency's Y2K efforts recently told us that if January 1, 2000 were tomorrow, military computers would be in pretty good shape.		FEATURES Book Reviews Y2K already has spawned its own genre. We tell you what books are worth buying. Chip 'n Little Cartoons Chip 'n Little goes on TV Chip 'n Little visits John Koskinen Chip 'n Little saves the world Warning: This cartoon has been called "foolish and tasteless." Y2K from A to Z Y2K Haiku Traditionalists may be shocked. Mad Cow Culture What does Y2K have in common with today's Mad Cow Culture? Answer: Everything. Declan McCullagh's Y2K articles Psychology of Y2K LATEST NEWS As of December 31, 1999 Get Your T-Shirt Quick Bill Gates Does Y2K Reader Feedback A Sarcastic Calendar Cooking After the Apocalypse A Real Y2K Disaster Hitchhiker's Guide Meets Y2K