cant increases have been attained in the survivability and flexibility of NCS components. The identification of facilities that currently make up the NCS has, to date, proceeded essentially on the basis of network definition. A precise resource analysis which would categorize equipment, real estate, personnel, and leased communications support is proceeding well. Limited tests and exercises have been conducted, and standards have been prescribed by the NCS Manager. These management actions have contributed substantially to the effectiveness of the NCS. A major increase in the testing activities and in the performancestandards area will be forthcoming for the next period of system evolution. As an extension of Bureau of the Budget Bulletin No. 66-3, coordinated planning, programing and budgeting system procedures for the NCS are now under consideration by the Bureau of the Budget. These procedures should provide additional policy and management tools upon which to base further progress of the NCS. Within the Office of Telecommunications Management, some conceptual planning to improve the interface between Federal-State telecommunications systems is in progress. THE ISSUES AHEAD It is clear that the initial and evolutionary stage of the NCS has now been well completed. Ultimate unification goals are conditioned by command concepts. A pattern of greater integration will probably have to await decisions in this domain. We need to make a fundamental decision soon that from this point on the NCS will be: Planned as a system, implemented as a system, and operated as a system. The first two are now going forward. The latter remains open. A number of independent issues must be faced before an effective union can be achieved of the facilities which make up the NCS. I would like to list some of the more important of these issues: We need to arrive at a common position between those who are interested within the Congress and between my office and the executive agent, NCS, as to exactly what constitutes policy and what constitutes executive agent operational management activities. Government requirements are changing rapidly. The Executive Agent and the Manager of the NCS have reviewed and analyzed available data. Newly developed requirements create a growing problem for maintaining a continuously updated data base of the valid require ments. Mr. RANDALL (presiding). Mr. O'Connell, may I interrupt for a moment, please, here? Mr. O'CONNELL. Yes. Mr. RANDALL. The chairman of this subcommittee, Mr. Holifield, I think it is worth while to mention, is the floor manager of the Department of Transportation bill which is being considered today, and some of the rest of us have other committee obligations. The acting chairman has been involved in the reserve callup in the armed services, and we had to pull away from that in order to be here, and I know my colleague from Texas has other obligations. You are making a very interesting statement. I have been debating whether to interrupt you or not; but, it seems to me, if we do not, because it is such a long statement maybe there will be some things that some of us, at least, just cannot come back to. So, if we can, I would ask leave of the committee that these questions be put in their proper place, in order not to break into the statement; but, at the bottom of the page, I guess it was-let me see, back here on page 36-you were talking about Federal-State telecommunications systems. What are you talking about there in the States? Are you talking about disaster warnings or what are you talking about in the States? This is a little puzzling to me, at least. Mr. O'CONNELL. I have a chart on that, Mr. Chairman, which we will get out at this point, and indicate to you the number of States that are considering putting together State communications systems. Mr. RANDALL. Well, all right. (Chart 4 follows:) Mr. O'CONNELL. Those in red are operational, and those in green are planned. These are State plans to try to integrate their State facilities in a somewhat comparable manner that the Government is trying to integrate its various telecommunications activities. Mr. RANDALL. And that is an active pursuit by your office, is it? Mr. O'CONNELL. It is. Colonel JOHNSON. Let me explain, sir. What happens is that these State networks in any of these programs have to be interfaced with the Federal networks. A good example of this is the so-called Na tional Crime Information System which is being financed currently under the Law Enforcement Assistance Act. Under this, the Federal Bueau of Investigation is providing help to each and every one of the States to provide a central registration of stolen vehicles throughout the Nation. This system is linked together by a federally financed system that ties at one point into each State. The State networks then continue on down to provide coverage throughout the entire State, and interties into a Federal system. (Chart 5, referred to above, follows:) NATIONAL CRIME INFORMATION SYSTEM CONCEPT Colonel JOHNSON. So what happens is that there has to be some coordination, some coordinated planning, between the State networks and Federal systems of the nature of this one shown here. Mr. O'CONNELL. Mr. Chairman, this is covered on page 38. Mr. RANDALL. You are coming to it subsequently, all right. I hope this won't interfere with the orderly presentation of your statement. Proceed, sir. Mr. O'CONNELL. This office needs to improve financial planning and program review procedures, on a continuing basis, extending our review capabilities as we do so. In the requirements study ahead, we must reach an agreed position as to the extent the NCS should complement or interconnect with communications facilities operated by the States. FEDERAL-STATE COMMUNICATIONS PLANNING ACTIVITIES During the period 1957-67, Federal assistance to State and local governments will have risen from $4.1 billion to about $14.6 billion. These funds are provided in support of increasing legislation by the Congress in such areas as health, education, welfare, highway construction, law enforcement, disaster assistance, and others. About 6 months ago, my office began a small in-house trends study designed to provide a basis upon which to direct future communications planning in this field. These bills, many of them, contain assistance to the States, funded assistance to the States, in terms of communications, particularly the highway bills, education bills, and by and large, the States do not have a central office of telecommunications. These funds go directly to one of the agencies in the State. So the problem that exists in the State is to pull together the various federally supported programs at the State level into a coordinated State telecommunications program, and then a coordination, of these State programs, with the Federal programs, so that the FTS, for example, or the NCS systems can be interconnected with the State systems. Mr. WRIGHT. Mr. Chairman, may I ask a question in that connection? Mr. RANDALL. Yes. Mr. WRIGHT. You have given us one illustration as to the purpose or usefulness of a State system, the information concerning stolen vehicles. Is there any other function that a State gridwork of this type would perform in connection with the Federal systems, local disaster programs, for example, as suggested a moment ago by the chairman? Mr. LATHEY. Sir, the Director was approached by the Office of Civil Defense for guidance in providing communications for the State of Nebraska. Nebraska decided about a year ago to try to combine all of their communications into one statewide system in an effort to economize. They found that they had 29 different agencies in the State budgeting and procuring their own individual communications without coordination, and that there were 8 separate statewide systems, none of them interfacing or interconnecting with each other in the State of Nebraska. In designing the system, they stated that the system would be used for emergency purposes, so they applied to the Office of Civil Defense for 50 percent matching funds to cover the development of the system. That was referred to Mr. O'Connell. We have not yet answered the Office of Civil Defense in this area, but it has launched us into an area of looking at many States in which you will find similar problems. The systems in these States really will be used as an extension of the NCS, and the FTS, and in the FTS area, the General Services Administration could provide considerable savings, which we have identified so far in our study. Other systems of national import across the Nation have been studied by the office, and they are required to be connected one way or another with State systems. I think Colonel Johnson could mention a few of the statewide systems where we need some interface. Colonel JOHNSON. I mentioned the educational TV program which is funded under the Educational Facilities Act of 1962. (Chart 6, referred to at this point, follows:) Colonel JOHNSON. Under this act, the Federal Government will provide some matching funds, both for the construction of the television stations and for the interconnection of them, and there is a developing trend to interconect these stations with conventional ground microwave systems. Overall, it is beginning to take on national importance. Now, this trend has further been accentuated by the proposals advanced by the Ford Foundation and others to use communication satellites for this purpose. Mr. WRIGHT. What specifically does this mean now, from the standpoint of an educational TV station, which I find a very commendable thing, how will this interconnection you are talking about improve the services of educational TV? Colonel JOHNSON. What it does, sir, and I have shown here chart 6-the so-called eastern educational network, which is planned to come into operation in 1967-you may observe that the local station, channel 26, is currently interconnected in a network arrangement with Philadelphia, New York, and Boston; it also extends on up into Maine, 8 hours a day. Mr. WRIGHT. This means that a program may originate in one of these other communities and be fed into the other outlets live? Colonel JOHNSON. Be available, that is right. Mr. WRIGHT. On educational TV? Colonel JOHNSON. It provides a continuous 8-hour-a-day network supporting programing structure for all of these educational stations. It provides them with an external program source so that they do not have to create one themselves. Mr. O'CONNELL. They can all tie into it. Mr. WRIGHT. Good. That is what I wanted. |