Pentagon Y2K chiefs land in industry

A year after the Defense Department survived the Year 2000 rollover withfew problems, four of the chief officials who led the efforts have retiredfrom government and are working for information technology companies.

Gary Ambrose, the brigadier general who led the Air Force's Year 2000readiness initiative, started working late last year as IBM Corp.'s DODclient director, a business development job. He retired from the militaryin the summer of 2000 after turning down a promotion to major general forfamily reasons.

The Marine Corps' Year 2000 chief, Kevin McHale, started working late last year for Mitre Corp. as assistant director of Marine Corps programs. Even before the colonel retired from the Pentagon last year, he said he'd missed the weekly Year 2000 meetings that the DOD program managers held.

Clifford Szafran, the Navy captain who led his department's Year 2000 readiness efforts, agreed to extend his service commitment past the rollover before retiring in May. "I wanted to get back to my roots," following a 26-year military career in aviation and supply, he said. Szafran now serves as Electronic Data Systems Corp.'s program manager for the company's Naval Supply Systems Command and Naval Air Systems Command enterprise resource planning pilot.

Miriam "Mimi" Browning, who led the Army's Year 2000 readiness initiative,still works for the service as its director of information management.

Another key player during the Year 2000 rollover — retired Air ForceLt. Gen. William Donahue — in October became head of the Computer ScienceCorp. business unit that deals with aerospace programs, range operationsand Air Force support business. Donahue was the Air Force's director forcommunication and information at Air Force headquarters and commander ofthe Air Force Communications and Information Center.