THE EARLY MILLER YEARS 



123 



and served notice that oversight meant something more meaningful 

 than overflights. 



Still another committee-induced reform rendered committee over- 

 sight over NASA more effective. In the early years, NASA preferred 

 to present its funding requests with "Research, development, and 

 operations" lumped together. The committee insisted that to make an 

 intelligent review of funding, NASA should separate out administra- 

 tive operations from research and development. The committee also 

 insisted on "1-year" authorization instead of allowing a blanket au- 

 thorization for administrative operations stretching over several years. 

 NASA complied with the committee request in the authorization 

 requests from fiscal year 1965 onward, and this enabled more meaning- 

 ful congressional action in the interests of economy and efficiency. 



Among other oversight actions taken by the committee, started 

 in the early Miller years, was to rescind all unused or excess authori- 

 zations after three years' time. So as early as 1963, the Committee on 

 Science and Astronautics was taking some of the first steps in the 

 direction of what in the next decade became popularly known as 

 sunset legislation. 



OTHER AREAS OF ACTIVITY 



Chairman Brooks was never happy unless he could be doing 

 something, and he was always unhappy if he did not observe his staff 

 doing something. Chairman Miller was much more philosophical, 

 yet he encouraged both the committee and staff to get involved in a 

 wide ranging series of different activities. He was also far more in- 

 terested than Chairman Brooks in the international aspects of scientific 

 work, and kept closely in touch through travel, speeches, and con- 

 ferences, with work being done in other countries and the assistance 

 which the United States could give to encourage better exchange of 

 scientific information. 



The committee held significant hearings on and issued meaningful 

 reports on the NASA development of weather and communications 

 satellites. However, the committee stopped short of getting involved 

 in areas beyond its jurisdiction over research and development. The 

 committee tippy-toed around the fringes of the raging controversy 

 over the public interest in the new Communications Satellite 

 Corporation. 



Following up hearings held by Chairman Brooks, Chairman 

 Miller also held investigative hearings on what research and develop- 

 ment was being done in new modes of air, land, and sea transporta- 

 tion — including hydrofoils, monorails, aircars, and vertical takeoff 

 planes. Special hearings and reports were issued on radio and radar 



