Page images
PDF
EPUB

NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC COUNCIL

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1964

U.S. SENATE,

COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE,

Washington, D.C.

The committee was called to order, pursuant to notice, at 10:27 a.m., in room 5110, New Senate Office Building, the Honorable Warren G. Magnuson (chairman of the committee) presiding.

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order.

The Chair apologizes for himself being a little late this morning, but he had another matter he had to take care of. It lasted much longer than I thought it would.

This is the first session of hearings that the committee expects to hold on the general scope of our oceanographic program, and on S. 944, the bipartisan measure that many Members of the Senate have joined in sponsoring.

I want to say to those here who are interested in the legislation that we had the bill lie on the desk of the Senate for cosponors for a few days, and although there are many Senators who are on the bill, there are about double those that also want to get on the bill. So a majority, a clear majority in the Senate favors the bill in its general objectives.

The Chair is very pleased with that because there will probably be no trouble in passing it.

S. 944 proposes to provide the marine science program with a legislative base, and to establish a National Oceanographic Council, thus placing oceanography on an administrative parity with the National Aeronautics and Space, National Security, Federal Radiation, and other Cabinet-level Councils created to assist and advise the President with respect to major Government programs in which a number of departments and agencies participate.

The bill is closely patterned after titles I and II of the Aeronautics and Space Act reported in the 86th Congress by the Special Committee on Space and Aeronautics of which the then Senator Lyndon B. Johnson was chairman. Like the Space Council, the National Oceanographic Council would have a small-and I underline the word “small”—independent staff headed by a civilian executive expert.

Professional staff member assigned to this hearing: Daniel B. Markel.

1

[S. 944, 89th Cong., 1st sess.]

A BILL To provide for expanded research in the oceans and the Great Lakes, to establish a National Oceanographic Council, and for other purposes

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SEC. 101. This Act may be cited as the National Oceanographic Act of 1965.

DECLARATION OF POLICY AND PURPOSE

SEC. 201. The oceanographic and marine activities of the United States should be conducted so as to contribute to the following objectives:

(1) The expansion of human knowledge of phenomena in and related to the oceans, the marine environment, and the Great Lakes, their boundaries and contents.

(2) The preservation of the role of the United States as a leader in oceanographic and marine science and technology.

(3) The enhancement of the general welfare and security of the United States. (4) The advancement of education and training in marine science and technology.

(5) The development and improvement of the capabilities, performance, and efficiency of vehicles, equipment, and instruments for use in exploration, research, surveys, the recovery of resources, and the transmission of energy in the marine environment.

(6) The coordination of activities of the various agencies concerned with the marine sciences, and the collection, storing, and distribution of significant data acquired as a result of these activities.

(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 United States 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.
(9) The Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission.
(10) The Director of the National Science Foundation.
(11) The Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

(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 absence, 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;

(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 Execultive 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 or 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 investigaton 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 Act 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.

COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES,
Washington, March 5, 1965.

Hon. WARREN G. MAGNUSON,
Chairman, Committee on Commerce,
U.S. Senate.

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Your letter of February 11, 1965, requests our comments on S. 944. The purpose of the bill is to provide for expanded research in the oceans and the Great Lakes and to establish a national oceanographic council. We have no special information to offer the committee which would assist in consideration of the bill and, since it involves a matter of policy for determination by the Congress, we make no recommendation concerning its enactment. Sincerely yours,

JOSEPH CAMPBELL,

Comptroller General of the United States.

« PreviousContinue »