Question 2. If ADTS is not responsible for utilization of such technology by Federal agencies in general, how does the executive branch assure that as a standard procedure all agencies are aware of, and take advantage of technological opportunities to improve information and communications facilities? What office or agency is responsible?

Answer. The executive branch assures that agencies are aware of and taking advantage of technological opportunities to improve information and communication facilities through a number of different organizations.

As you may be aware, the Office of Management and Budget, Management Information and Computer Systems Division had overall responsibility in the computer area prior to the transfer of that function and certain other functions to the General Services Administration (GSA) by Executive Order 11717, dated May 9, 1973. On an overall policy basis the Office of Federal Management Policy now in GSA has the responsibility for assuring that agencies consider the availability of technological opportunities to improve agency operations through the use of automatic data processing equipment. Insofar as communication facilities, the automated data and telecommunications service (ADTS) assures that the latest advances in facilities technology is made known to executive agencies and promotes the utilization of such to the optimum degree consistent with economy and efficiency of operations.

The Department of Commerce through the National Bureau of Standards, Institute for Computer Sciences and Technology, also plays a role in this area and offers various symposiums relative to the use of computer systems and the state of the art. They also have a responsibility for research into computer technology.

Question 3. The first principle by which ADTS operates is cost effectiveness. Is there another office or agency which oversees use of computers and telecommunications with primary attention to how information services are provided to the public, or how well the public is able to gain access to Government information?

Answer. Yes, there are other organizational elements within the executive branch which oversee the use of computers and telecommunications with attention to how information services are provided to the public, or how well the public is able to gain access to information. In the area of computers the Office of Federal Management Policy, GSA has the responsibility, working in conjunction with the Office of Management and Budget, relative to their general oversight responsibilities. In the area of telecommunications the primary organization having such responsibilities is the Office of Telecommunications Policy, Executive Office of the President.

Question 4. How do services provided to other Federal agencies by ADTS compure with services provided by the Office of Telecommunications Policy in the White House, by the Office of Telecommunications in the Department of Commerce, by the Office of Applications in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and by any other agency?

If services are distinctly different, how does ADTS coordinate with these other agencies?

If services overlap or conflict, how are such conflicts resolved?

Answer. The basic difference between the functions of ADTS and the Office of Telecommunications Policy relates to the fact that ADTS provides operating services to meet agencies' requirements whereas the Office of Telecommunications Policy is primarily involved in overall policy matters relating to telecommunications. We, of course, coordinate with the Office of Telecommunications Policy those matters which involve the formulation of overall telecommunications policy. The Office of Telecommunications, Department of Commerce is involved in the research and development area. Their institute of telecommunications sciences performs research and systems analysis in the basic science of telecommunications. The Office of Applications in NASA is involved primarily in development in the application of satellite communication technology pertaining to such matters as meteorology, position location, and environmental mapping. We do not feel that there are any basic overlaps or conflicts. Should there be any, it is the responsibility of the Office of Telecommunications Policy to identify and recommend remedial action.

Question 5. An Office of Management and Budget information policy analysis group has recently been transferred to the automated data and telecommunications system of GSA. If GSA-ADTS has not heretofore played a policy role in the information systems area, why have the OMB people been transferred?

(a) What impact will the placement of the OMB group have on your organization?

(b) How will they be placed within GSA-ADTS?

(c) To whom will they be responsible?

(d) How will they be funded?

Answer. There has been no transfer of an OMB information policy analysis group to the automated data and telecommunications service of the General Services Administration. Executive Order 11717 dated May 9, 1973, did transfer to GSA the functions previously performed by the management information and computer systems division of OMB. This is only one of the functions transferred by the executive order. Other functions include management systems policy, procurement policy, property management policy, and financial management policy. The Administrator of General Services has established the Office of Federal Management Policy of which the Office of ADP Management is a part. This organizational element is the one that we believe you are referring to in your question. This Office is not a part of the Automated Data and Telecommunications Service. This office has the responsibility for the development of Govern. ment-wide automatic data processing policy which was previously performed in OMB. The transfer of functions was made so that GSA could assume a broader management role by becoming the President's principal instrument for developing better systems for providing administrative support to all executive branch activities. ADTS will continue to interact with this new office in a matter similar to that previously in existence prior to the transfer of the function from OMB. It is our opinion that more effective and efficient promulgation of overall Government-wide policy in this area will be possible as a result of the placement of these functions in GSA, and further that ADTS will be able to more effectively and efficiently coordinate its operating policy decisions in discharging its functions relative to automatic data processing. The personnel transferred from OMB will be funded in fiscal 74 through reprograming of funds from available GSA appropriations.

Mr. ALEXANDER. The committee will stand adjourned until 2 p.m. this afternoon.

Thank you very much.

Mr. WEINSTEIN. Thank you.

[Whereupon, at 12:32 p.m., the subcommittee recessed, to reconvene at 2 p.m., the same day.]

AFTERNOON SESSION

Mr. MOORHEAD. The Subcommittee on Foreign Operations and Government Information will please come to order.

The subcommittee would like to hear from Mr. R. Tenney Johnson, the General Counsel of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

STATEMENT OF R. TENNEY JOHNSON, GENERAL COUNSEL, NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION; ACCOMPANIED BY LEONARD JAFFE, DEPUTY ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR FOR APPLICATIONS

Mr. JOHNSON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

With me this afternoon is Leonard Jaffe, Deputy Associate Administrator for Applications of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, appreciates the opportunity to state its role in the development and use of communications technology for national needs. Many of the dramatic improvements in communications today are the result of new technology originally

developed by and for NASA. A very substantial technological base now exists for even more dramatic advances in the future.

Under the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, NASA's mission is primarily to conduct research, development, and testing in aeronautics and space expressly for peaceful purposes for the benefit of all mankind.

In the course of its activities, NASA has developed a tremendous capability in communications technology. This capability, which includes the ability to manage the development of complex systems, is available not only to fulfill NASA's needs but also to assist other Government agencies in developing operational programs for their use. NASA is concerned with demonstrating practical and responsible applications of the new technology which it has developed, disseminating scientific and technical information arising out of its programs, and encouraging utilization of this new technology within the private

sector.

Except to meet its own needs, NASA is not an operational agency in the communications field. Its role is to pursue a continuing R. & D. program in the technology of spacecraft and satellite communications. In doing so, it develops new technologies which did not previously exist but which appear to be needed to demonstrate the technical feasibility and practicality of new kinds of applications in this field. Once NASA has demonstrated these applications and assisted using agencies in developing operational programs based on them, NASA turns to focus on new applications for which the technology is not yet at hand. The operation and content of programs utilizing the demonstrated technology are the responsibility of the using agencies, subject to such regulation as is necessary by the regulatory agencies.

An early and prominent example of this process was the application of satellites to radio communications, initially across the oceans but later over transcontinental distances. The NASA program in communications satellites developed and demonstrated the three fundamental technologies on which successful commercial operations are based: The space-qualified microwave receiver and transmitter, the geosynchronous-orbit spacecraft, and the initially large Earthterminal required for successful Earth-to-satellite and satellite-toEarth transmissions. With the establishment of the Communications Satellite Corp. through the Communications Satellite Act of 1962, transfer of this technology for application by the commercial sector was begun by NASA.

Under the act, the Federal Communications Commission assumed regulatory jurisdiction over this developing commercial communications network. The State Department is responsible for foreign policy aspects and participated in the negotiations leading to agreement on the establishment of the international system. Also, as required by the act, NASA provided these agencies with advice on technical matters affecting satellite communications, and continues to do so.

The effectiveness of the transfer to the commercial sector can best be appreciated by noting that the first commercial communications satellite-Early Bird, placed in orbit in 1965-was capable of supporting 240 voice or telephone channels while each of the current Intelsat

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IV series of satellites placed in orbit beginning in 1971, can support about 6,000 channels or the equivalent of 12 television channels. The cost per channel has dropped from $24,000 per year in 1965 to $719 per year in 1972.

Now the FCC has given preliminary approval to applications by a number of companies for establishment of competing satellite communications systems for domestic use within this country. NASA will provide launch services for approved satellites on a reimbursable basis. These commercial sector activities have concentrated on point-topoint telephone-and some data-transmissions and transoceanic television transmissions between relatively large Earth stations. Domestic communication satellite systems will build on this experience.

As these activities have been going forward, NASA has concentrated on advancing the state of the art in new satellite technology. System studies, in-orbit experiments, and new technology, such as precision pointing and high power, have led to further projected uses for satellites, such as enabling precise position fixing and traffic control of aircraft and commercial ships at sea, and use of small, less expensive ground stations for community broadcasting in remote areas.

The development projects which have supported the position fixing and traffic control technologies are applications technology satellites 1, 3, and 5, which are now in orbit. The community broadcasting technology will be demonstrated in two satellites, NASA's ATS-F and CTS, which is the joint United States/Canada communications technology satellite. These will be launched in 1974 and 1975, respectively. Thus, a substantial industry has grown up using communications satellites and relatively large ground stations. In addition, the development and demonstration of the technology of satellite broadcasting to small ground stations are relatively well along in both the ATS-F and CTS programs.

In these circumstances, NASA has decided to phase out its work on the development of experimental communications satellites. Future research and development advances in this field can now be accomplished by industry on a commercial basis without Government support.

While NASA will complete the ATS-F and CTS projects, it has canceled the ATS-G mission originally planned for 1975, and ceased all further effort on the ATS-H and ATS-I missions, which had been projected earlier. Moreover, as we testified before the U.N. Broadcasting Working Group, NASA is not pursuing any program to develop a system for direct broadcasting of television programs to unaugmented home receivers.

However, NASA will maintain an R. & D. capability in advanced communications technology affecting satellite communications. Our own programs continue to require this, as for example, in the transmission of data from Earth resource technology and meteorology satellites, as well as from scientific satellites and probes of the planets. Moreover, a continuing up-to-date technology base is essential to enable NASA to carry out its statutory obligations to provide technical consultation. Thus, NASA, as the authorized agency for space research and development in civil applications, will continue to be able to provide applications of communications technology to recognized mission agencies.

An example of this is the ATS-F satellite, mentioned earlier, which is scheduled for launch in mid-1974. One experiment planned for this satellite is the health education telecommunications (HET) experiment sponsored by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW).

The purpose is to demonstrate educational and health care applications of broadcasting through satellites to groups of small terminals located in community centers or schools in remote areas. Television signals will be beamed through the ATS-F satellite in the instructional television (ITV) broadcast band and persons on the ground participating in the health and education experiments may respond back through voice channels which will be provided on satellites ATS-1 or ATS-3.

The experiments will be conducted in coordination with the Federation of Rocky Mountain States, the State of Alaska, and the Appalachian Regional Commission and on a time-shared basis with the other ATS-F experiments-science, traffic management, and meteorology.

The content material used in these experiments, the methods of executing experiment procedures, and the evaluation of results, other than those of a technical nature, are the responsibility of HEW and its selected experimenters in Alaska and the Rocky Mountain and Appalachian areas.

We understand that contracts have been let for low-cost ground receivers and transmitters and that the preparation of educational program material is underway in the experimenters' localities.

Approximately 1 year after launch, and after the HET experiment, ATS-F will be moved to a new station over Africa from which it can be used by the Indian Government for a period of 1 year to experimentally broadcast instructional materials to some 5,000 Indian villages.

Planning for postlaunch experimentation with the joint United States/Canadian CTS satellite in 1975 has proceeded to the point that proposals have been received for "user experiments." The proposing organizations include NASA field centers, industry, universities, a State department of education, and HEW. Canada is planning a similar program of postlaunch user experiments with its 50 percent of the satellite operating time.

Along with the conduct of these applications experiments and demonstrations, NASA has contributed to advances in communications technology in several other ways.

For example, NASA's own global communications system, called Nascom, which is used to control NASA's space flights, has required major advances in communications and data processing capabilities. In Nascom, NASA has also pioneered in the new and growing field of teleprocessing-a combination of communications and computer technologies.

NASA has developed a modern system for retrieving scientific and technical information from a very large data base. This system, known as NASA/Recon, enables persons at NASA centers across the United States to use remote consoles to retrieve information from NASA's central data bank at College Park, Md. Ten other Federal agencies now utilize the Recon system. In addition, NASA has established a