The clocks had turned over on Jan. 1, 2000, with few major disruptions, and cable news chatterers quickly concluded that we'd been duped. Y2K and the years of doomsaying it had inspired now looked like a fin de siècle affectation, the sort of problem people invent when the economy's booming and they've got nothing else to worry about. After a short round of thank-yous to his staff, Bennett closed down the special committee—and with that, the federal government squashed its involvement in the millennium bug.

Almost 10 years later, it's remarkable how little we think about Y2K. Today and tomorrow, I'm going to do my best to fix that oversight. In the first half of my two-part Y2K retrospective, I'll try to evaluate whether our millennial preparations were a good idea or a huge waste. On Thursday, I'll look at the lessons Y2K provides when it comes to planning for future disasters.