In addition, oceanography serves the missions of a number of Government agencies. These missions could be affected detrimentally if their oceanography supporting functions were transferred to another agency. The Coast and Geodetic Survey functions of ESSA are also related to oceanography but of much greater independent significance. The nautical charting program of ESSA makes an indirect contribution to oceanography but the prime function of the program is based on the policy to provide nautical charts for the mariner. The contribution to scientific knowledge is an incidental byproduct of this function. To remove the nautical charting program from the bureau would be to separate it from the necessary supporting functions, such as geodesy, coastal mapping and magnetics. On the other hand, to place the Coast and Geodetic Survey functions of ESSA under the proposed oceanographic agency would place it under the jurisdiction of an agency whose program appears to be more narrowly oriented than its own. Oceanography should remain a useful tool for achieving specific public policies and missions. However, the national interest also recognizes that it should be pursued as a science to extend our knowledge of the oceans. We believe the first properly should remain within the province of the operating agencies. The second falls more within the scope of the National Science Foundation and coordinated by the Federal Council for Science and Technology. The Interagency Committee on Oceanography and the Interdepartmental Committee for Atmospheric Sciences established by the Federal Council for Science and Technology afford sufficient coordination at present to assure a strong national program for research and investigation in oceanography. 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 DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, Hon. HERBERT C. BONNER, OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS, Chairman, Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, House of MY DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Your request for comment on H.R. 921, a bill to establish the National Oceanographic Agency, has been assigned to this Department by the Secretary of Defense for the preparation of a report thereon expressing the views of the Department of Defense. H.R. 921, in brief, would establish the National Oceanographic Agency, including therein meteorology and other close-allied sciences. It would be initially established by the transferral to it of all functions in oceanography and related sciences from other agencies of the U.S. Government, including personnel, property and funds. In addition to the personnel initially transferred to it, other Government employees and members of the Armed Forces may be detailed for services in the National Oceanographic Agency. There is a stipulation that the President may determine that certain functions should not be transferred under this act in the interests of national security. Oceanography, as with many other sciences, provides maximum benefits to the Federal agencies when its results are applicable to specific problems within the Government. Many Federal agencies require varied kinds of oceanographic information in order to do their jobs. In fact, this link to the missions of the agencies makes the oceanographic program productive and viable. Most information is highly specialized and obtained to assist in meeting existing or foreseeable problems. Examples are the kind of information needed by the Navy Department to hunt submarines, to be prepared to launch Polaris missiles, conduct amphibious and submarine operations. Similarly, in the Commerce Department, oceanoghaphic information is required for chart making and assisting maritime trade, in the Department of the Interior for exploiting the mineral and food resources of the ocean and increasing U.S. efficiency in fishing both commercially and as a recreational asset through sport fisheries. The Public Health Service needs oceanographic information as it affects offshore pollution and the Atomic Energy Commission as it affects disposal of atomic waste and radioactivity in the oceans. If each of these users must go to a different agency to obtain oceanographic support, he will be less likely to make the effort. It is believed that no central single oceanographic office could ever adequately fill all these specialized requirements. There is a continuing need for national coordination and collaboration on projects of mutual interest. Different agencies often need the same information, and only one agency then need obtain it. The information collected by a single agency has to be avaiable to all agencies. For example, the broad array of oceanographic activities of the Navy is related to the mission of the Navy, but it should be, and is, available to the civilian agencies. This coordination and collaboration is achieved through the general supervision of the Interagency Committee on Oceanography. Chaired by the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research and Development and including members from all major Federal agencies involved in marine sciences, this Committee accomplishes a tremendous amount of good without direct administrative control. It is considered that a National Oceanographic Agency, which would substitute centralized authority for voluntary cooperation, would remove oceanography from the laboratories of the users and reduce its utilization. It is noted that section 7 of the proposed bill could be readily interpreted to exclude Navy oceanographic programs from the provisions of the bill, although there is no assurance that this would in fact be done. In spite of this, the Department of the Navy, on behalf of the Department of Defense, is opposed to H.R. 921 for the above stated reasons. This report has been coordinated within the Department of Defense in accordance with procedures prescribed by the Secretary of Defense. The Bureau of the Budget advises that, from the standpoint of the administration's program, there is no objection to the presentation of this report for the consideration of the committee. Sincerely yours, M. K. DISNEY, Director, Legislative Division DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE, Hon. HERBERT C. BONNER, Washington, D.C., August 2, 1965. Chairman, Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: This letter is in response to your request of January 22, 1965, for a report on H.R. 921, a bill to establish the National Oceanographic Agency. The bill would establish an independent agency to coordinate a national program for oceanography and related sciences; establish an Administrator for the National Oceanographic Agency; transfer to this Agency all functions relating to oceanography and related sciences which are now vested in any officer, employee, department, agency, and instrumentality of the United States; transfer existing regulations to this Agency until such time as they are modified, amended, superseded, or revoked by the Administrator; establish within the Agency offices and procedures to provide coordination of activities with other private and public organizations; and authorize with the approval of the President, entrance into cooperative agreements with other agencies for services in the performance of functions under the act. H.R. 921 would transfer to the proposed new Agency all functions relating to oceanography and related sciences now vested in any department or agency of the United States. We believe this would be unwise. Our activities in oceanography, like those of other agencies, are not an end in themselves but are related to the missions of Department programs which carry on those activities. The transfer of our oceanographic activities would work to the detriment of those programs. The Interagency Committee on Oceanography, on which this Department is represented, provides a workable mechanism for the coordination of our activities in the field with those of other agencies. The Committee prepares each year a coordinated, comprehensive plan for the achievement of national goals in oceanography. Through the budgetary process, the appropriate roles and responsibilities of the participating agencies are specifically defined. With respect to the organizational setting of the oceanographic program, we refer the provisions of H.R. 2218. That bill would vest in the President the responsibility for issuing a statement of national goals with respect to oceanography, for developing a comprehensive program of oceanographic activities for fixing the responsibility for the direction of such activities, for reporting annually to the Congress on stated aspects of the program, and for appointing an Advisory Committee for Oceanography. This bill would provide a specific statutory basis for interagency cooperation in programs in oceanography and could serve to focus wider attention on oceanography. We would therefore recommend that H.R. 921, providing for the establishment of the National Oceanographic Agency, not be enacted. We are advised by the Bureau of the Budget that there is no objection to the presentation of this report from the standpoint of the administration's program. Sincerely, WILBUR J. COHEN, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Hon. HERBERT C. BONNER, Chairman, Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, DEAR MR. BONNER: Your committee has requested our views and recommendations on seven specific bills concerned with the problem of planning, coordinating, and financing the national oceanographic program. This Department through the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, the Bureau of Mines, and the Geological Survey, is greatly interested in, and directly concerned with, the science of oceanography. We are primarily concerned with the development of the natural resources of the oceans. Consequently, we desire that this form of research and development proceed efficiently and effectively in the national interest. Described briefly, the bills before the committee are: H.R. 921 provides for the establishment of a new and independent agency which would be headed by an Administrator to establish a coordinated national program for oceanography and related sciences, including meteorology. It provides for the transfer of all the functions now carried out by approximately eight governmental agencies involving the subjects of physical oceanography, biological oceanography, marine geology, meteorology, and others. Also to be transferred are personnel, property records, and unexpended appropriations related to these functions. All of these bills deal in various ways with the problem of planning, coordinating, and financing the national oceanographic program. This is a larger program of research and development which involves several Federal Government departments and specialized agencies. It is largely based on the recommendation of a committee of the National Academy of Sciences, which in 1959 proposed that the Federal Government embark on a 10-year program of expanded research on the oceans. The program involves studies of the physics, chemistry, geology, and biology of the ocean and its contiguous waters; the relationships and interactions between ocean and atmosphere; and the living, mineral, and fossil resources of the ocean waters and seabed, and methods of conserving and harvesting these natural 53-367-65- -2 resources. Since 1960 the program has been coordinated and its budgets planned by the Interagency Committee on Oceanography of the Federal Council for Science and Technology. Funds are appropriated through the budgets of the individual cooperating agencies. The large number of bills which have been introduced in the Congress in recent sessions proposing to alter this coordinating machinery or to begin new studies of the ocean and its resources reflects the concern of the legislative branch of the Government that the present mechanism for planning and review may not be adequate. The varying nature of the individual solutions to the problem represented by these bills is a fair indication of the complexity of the problem. We believe that there is a growing need for a perspective in which the oceanographic programs of the Federal Government can be more clearly seen in relation to each other and in relation to the national goals which they support. All of these bills contain some features which could be helpful in carrying out a national oceanographic program. The position of the executive branch, however, is that H.R. 2218 should be enacted, but that the enactment of any of the other bills would be premature at this time. This position is based on the premise that the President's Science Advisory Committee's Panel on Oceanography is at the present time making the kind of investigation and study that is contemplated by H.R. 9064. When the panel completes its study and submits its report Congress can more appropriately decide whether additional legislation dealing either with a further study or with a revised governmental organization to administer the national oceanographic program should be enacted. The recommendation that legislative action should be deferred is not intended to cast any doubt on the importance of the subject. President Johnson has recently stated his intention that the United States shall maintain leadership in ocean science and technology and their economic, military, and social applications. 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, CLARENCE F. PAUTZKE, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior. NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, Hon. HERBERT C. BONNER, Chairman, Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, DEAR CONGRESSMAN BONNER: Over the last 3 months you have been kind enough to refer to us for our information, and such comment as we might wish to make, several bills having to do with the Federal Government's arrangements for developing, coordination, and funding the national oceanographic program. Our Committee on Oceanography has welcomed the opportunity to review these bills. The Committee has long recognized the need for |