(7) The establishment of long-range studies of the potential benefits to the United States economy, security, health, and welfare to be gained from the opportunities for, and the problems involved in, utilization of scientific marine and Great Lakes research and surveys. (8) The effective utilization of the scientific and engineering resources of the United States, with close cooperation among all interested agencies of the United States, in order to avoid unnecessary duplication of effort, facilities and equipment, or waste. (9) The making available to agencies directly concerned or affected by oceanographic or Great Lakes phenomena of knowledge obtained through U.S. scientific marine research and surveys which is of value or significance to the agency. (10) The cooperation by the United States with other nations and groups of nations in oceanographic and marine research and surveys when such cooperation is in the national interest. THE NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC COUNCIL SEC. 301. (a) There is hereby established, in the Executive Office of the President, the National Oceanographic Council (hereinafter called the "Council") which shall be composed of— (1) The Vice President, who shall be Chairman of the Council. (2) The Secretary of State. (3) The Secretary of the Treasury. (4) The Secretary of Defense. (5) The Secretary of the Interior. (6) The Secretary of Commerce. (7) The Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. (8) The Director of the Office of Science and Technology. (b) The President shall from time to time designate one of the members of the Council to preside over meetings of the Council during the asbence, disability, or unavailability of the Chairman. (c) Each member of the Council may designate another officer of his department or agency to serve on the Council as his alternate in his unavoidable absence. (d) Each alternate member designated under subsection (c) of this section shall be designated to serve as such by and with the advice and consent of the Senate unless at the time of his designation he holds an office in the Federal Government to which he was appointed with the advice and consent of the Senate. (e) It shall be the function of the Council to advise and assist the President, as he may request, with respect to the performance of functions in the field of oceanography and the marine sciences, including but not limited to the following functions: (1) survey all significant oceanographic and marine science activities, including the policies, plans, programs, and accomplishments of all departments and agencies of the United States engaged in such activities; (2) develop a comprehensive program of oceanographic and marine science activities, including, but not limited to, exploration, exploitation and conservation of marine resources, oceanographic engineering, studies of air-sea interaction, transmission of energy, and communications, to be conducted by departments and agencies of the United States; (3) designate and fix responsibility for the direction of major oceanographic and marine science activities, including, but not limited to, exploration, exploitation and conservation of marine resources, oceanographic engineering, studies of air-sea interaction, transmission of energy, and communications; (4) provide for effective cooperation among all departments and agencies of the United States engaged in oceanographic and marine science activities, and specify, in any case in which primary responsibility for any category of the oceanographic and marine science activities has been assigned to any department or agency, which of those activities may be carried on concurrently by other departments or agencies; 53-367-65-3 (5) resolve differences arising among departments and agencies of the United States with respect to oceanographic and marine science activities under this Act, including differences as to whether a particular project is an oceanographic and marine science activity; and (6) review annually all existing oceanographic and marine sciences activities conducted by departments and agencies of the United States in light of the policies, plans, programs, and priorities developed pursuant to this Act. (f) The Council may employ a staff to be headed by a civilian executive secretary who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and shall receive compensation at a rate established by the President at not to exceed that of level II of the Federal Executive Salary Schedule. The executive secretary, subject to the direction of the Council, is authorized to appoint and fix the compensation of such personnel, including not more than seven persons who may be appointed without regard to civil service laws of the Classification Act of 1949 and compensated at not to exceed the highest rate of grade 18 of the General Schedule of the Classification Act of 1949, as amended, as may be necessary to perform such duties as may be prescribed by the Council in connection with the performance of its functions. (g) The Council shall submit to Congress within one year from the date of enactment of this Act, a comprehensive program of proposed legislation in furtherance of oceanography and the marine sciences. SEC. 401. (a) The Council, under the foreign policy guidance of the President, may engage in a program of international cooperation in work done pursuant to this Act, pursuant to agreements made by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. (b) The President shall transmit to the Congress in January of each year a report, which shall include (1) a comprehensive description of the programed activities and the accomplishments of all agencies and departments of the United States in the field of oceanography and marine science activities during the preceding year, and (2) an evaluation of such activities and accomplishments in terms of the attainment of, or the failure to attain, the objectives developed pursuant to this Act. (c) Any report made under this section shall contain such recommendations for additional legislation as the Chairman or the President may consider necessary or desirable for the attainment of the objectives developed pursuant to this Act, and shall contain an estimate of funding requirements of each agency and department of the United States in the field of oceanography and the marine science activities for its projected program activities during the succeeding fiscal year. (d) No information which has been classified for reasons of national security shall be included in any report made under this section, unless such information has been declassified by, or pursuant to authorization given by, the President. SEC. 501. (a) The Council shall arrange with the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the conduct of such security or other personnel investigation of the Council's officers, employees, and consulted, as it deems appropriate, and if any such investigation develops any data reflecting that the individual who is the subject thereof is of questionable loyalty there shall be a full field investigation of the matter, the results of which shall be furnished to the Council. (b) The Atomic Energy Commission may authorize any of its employees, or employees of any contractor, prospective contractor, licensee, or prospective licensee of the Atomic Energy Commission under subsection 145 (b) of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2165(b)), to permit any member, officer, or employee of the Council to have access to restricted data relating to oceanography and the marine sciences which is required in the performance of his duties and so certified by the Council but only if (1) the Council or designee thereof has determined, in accordance with the established personnel security procedures and standards of the Council, that permitting such individual to have access to such restricted data will not endanger the common defense and security, and (2) the Council or designee thereof finds that the established personnel and other security procedures and standards of the Council are adequate and in reasonable conformity to the standards established by the Atomic Energy Commission under section 145 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2165). Any individual granted access to such restricted data pursuant to this subsection may exchange such data with any individual who (A) is an officer or employee of the Department of Defense, or any department or agency thereof, or a member of the Armed Forces, or a contractor or subcontractor of any such department, agency, or armed force, or an officer or employee of any such contractor or subcontractor, and (B) has been authorized to have access to restricted data under the provisions of section 143 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2163). SEC. 601. Information obtained or developed by the Chairman in the performance of his functions under this Act shall be made available for public inspection except (a) information authorized or required by Federal statute to be withheld, and (b) information classified to protect the national security: Provided, That nothing in this Act shall authorize the withholding of information by the Chairman from the duly authorized committees of Congress. SEC. 701. (a) For the purposes of this Aet the term "marine sciences" shall be deemed to apply also to scientific endeavors in and with relation to the Great Lakes. (b) There is hereby authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out this Act, but sums appropriated for any one fiscal year shall not exceed $500,000. Hon. HERBERTJC. BONNER, U.S. ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION, Chairman, Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, DEAR MR. BONNER: The Atomic Energy Commission is pleased to comment on H.R. 5654, a bill to provide for expanded research in the oceans and the Great Lakes, to establish a National Oceanographic Council, and for other purposes. As you know, the Atomic Energy Commission was one of the four Federal agencies that first suggested and participated in efforts to coordinate the national program in oceanography. The Federal Council for Science and Technology (FCST) created by Executive Order No. 10807 on March 13, 1959, established the permanent Interagency Committee on Oceanography (ICO) by letter dated March 3, 1960, from George Kistiakowsky, Chairman of the FCST, to the Honorable James H. Wakelin, Jr., Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research and Development. Á primary function of the ICO has been to coordinate the activities of various agencies having an interest in oceanography and related marine sciences. There is also an FCST Committee on Water Resources Research which is concerned with coordinating research activities of the various agencies on fresh water resources, including research pertaining to the Great Lakes.. It is the AEC's understanding that the proposed bill would in effect substitute a National Oceanographic Council for the ICO as the primary coordinator of agency activities in the field of oceanography, and for the FCST Committee on Water Resources Research as the primary coordinator of agency research activities in the field of fresh water resources to the extent that those activities concern the Great Lakes. While the Commission is in accord with the substantive purpose and intent of the proposed legislation, it is our belief that such a substitution is not necessary or appropriate at this time in view of the effective coordination of agency efforts in this field by the ICO and the FCST Committee on Water Resources Research. Should the bill be considered for passage, however, the Commission suggests that changes as set forth below be made. The Commission urges the deletion from the bill of subsection 501 (b). This subsection would authorize "any member, officer, or employee of the Council to have access to restricted data relating to * * oceanography and the marine sciences which is required in the performance of his duties ***" as certified by the Council, provided the Council determines that its established "security procedures *** are * in reasonable conformity to the standards established by the Atomic Energy Commission under section 145 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2165)," and provided the Council has determined in accordance with such procedures "that permitting such individual to have access to such restricted data will not endanger the common defense and security." In our view subsection 501(b) would have the effect of diluting the Commission's control over restricted data without adequate demonstrated need. Such a certification procedure for access to restricted data, as proposed by subsection 501 (b), has been accorded to only two agencies, the Department of Defense and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration because the nature of the duties and functions of these agencies have so required. However, we believe that such a statutory provision for the National Oceanographic Council is not necessary. There does not appear to be extensive restricted data pertaining to oceanography and related marine sciences, and we believe that need for access to such restricted data, which the Council's members and officers as well as its relatively small staff may have, can be effectively handled through the Commission's usual security procedures. In this connection, it should be noted that Public Law 87-206 (75 Stat. 475) amended the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, on September 6, 1961, by adding a new subsection 145(c) in order to expedite clearances in such cases as this. In order to allow the Council to make full use of the clearance procedure contained in section 145(c) of the Atomic Energy Act, it is also recommended that section 501 (a) of the proposed bill be revised to read as follows: "SEC. 501. (a) The Council shall arrange with the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the conduct of investigations, including full field investigations, of the character, associations, and loyalty of the Council's officers, employees, and consultants, as it deems appropriate. The results of such investigations shall be furnished to the Council." The Bureau of the Budget has advised that there is no objection to the presentation of this report from the standpoint of the administration's program. Sincerely yours, JOHN V. VINCIGUERRA GENERAL COUNSEL OF THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, Washington, D.C., July 26, 1965. Hon. HERBERT C. BONNER, Chairman, Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: This is in further reply to your request for the views of this Department concerning H.R. 5654, a bill to provide for expanded research in the oceans and the Great Lakes, to establish a National Oceanographic Council, and for other purposes. H.R. 5654 would set forth national objectives for oceanographic and marine activities and would establish a National Oceanographic Council composed principally of Cabinet-level officers. The Council would advise and assist the President by surveying present oceanographic activities, developing an oceanographic program, coordinating the agencies' oceanographic activities and annually comparing Federal oceanographic accomplishments against the Council's oceanographic program. The Council would be authorized to employ an executive secretary and staff. H.R. 5654 would also require the President to report annually to Congress on his oceanographic program and on present accomplishments. The Department strongly supports improvement in and greater emphasis for the national oceanographic program. However, we doubt that H.R. 5654 would have enough beneficial effect upon oceanographic activities to offset the detrimental effect it would have upon the administration of oceanography as a whole. The Interagency Committee on Oceanography has had considerable success in coordinating and stimulating Federal oceanographic activities, and we are therefore not aware of overriding reasons for replacing it. The proposed National Oceanographic Council would not change the realities involved in setting priorities and apportioning limited funds among less limited demands within the agencies. There is no reason to believe that Council review of the national oceanographic program before its submission to the agencies would keep any agency from balancing its oceanographic program needs against the needs of its other programs. On the other hand, creation of the proposed Council would place additional demands directly upon Cabinet officers and agency heads who already have heavy burdens of responsibility. If the Council supplants the Interagency Committee on Oceanography, the limited amount of personal time which the Council members could devote to Council activities might result in less consideration of oceanography within the executive branch than presently exists. If the Council and the Interagency Committee on Oceanography both exist there will be substantial duplication of efforts and possible conflict of proposed programs. We think it is better to leave oceanographic planning and coordination in the hands of the policy and operating officials who work with the oceanographic program, serve on the Interagency Committee on Oceanography and who are thus most qualified to advise the President on its needs. For these reasons, the Department strongly favors the objectives of the bill but is opposed to the establishment of a Council to accomplish these objectives. If the bill were amended to permit the President to establish such mechanisms as he believes necessary to accomplish these objectives, we would favor the bill. We have been advised by the Bureau of the Budget that there would be no objection to the submission of our report from the standpoint of the administration's program. Sincerely, BURT W. ROPER (For Robert E. Giles). |