OCEANOGRAPHY IN THE ITNITED STATES 67 



Mr. Lennon. I think that is all. 



Mr. Miller. Mr. Flynn. 



Mr. Flynn. I have no questions. « 



Mr. Miller. Counsel ? 



Mr. Drewry. Admiral Richmond, as I understood your colloquy 

 with Congressman Lennon, the coordinating committee that was being 

 discussed was something in the nature of a personal group, but is it 

 not true that at the present time there is presently in being an in- 

 formal or interdepartmental ^oup that is representing the various 

 agencies that are concerned with different facets of this subject? 



Admiral Richmond. Yes. 



Mr. Drewry. Are you the Coast Guard representative in that 

 group ? 



Admiral Richmond. Yes, sir. 



Mr. Drewry. Wlio is the Chairman or Director ? 



Maybe someone else can answer it. 



Did I understand that Dr. Reichelderfer, of the Weather Bureau, 

 is the Chairman ? 



Admiral Richmond. It might be, sir. I would have to check. 



Let me make this point: that this interdepartmental committee as 

 such, as I see it, is concerned, you might say, with common problems 

 or matters of general interest. 



The thing that disturbs me is the mechanics. Assuming that you 

 were going forward with any program the mechanics of how you 

 were going to be assured that you were going to budget for it and 

 run it and control it, not talking about setting the type of program 

 and that sort of thing, but things just do no run themselves. That is 

 the type of control that I think has to be very seriously considered. 



Mr. Miller. Being in the Department of the Treasury, we realize 

 how you are much more conscious of the difficulty of getting a few 

 dollars than anyone else. 



Admiral Richmond. I do not think it is only that, sir. 



As you know, I think it was a week ago Monday there was a meet- 

 ing of representative agencies at which the Coast Guard was present 

 to discuss this particular program. I did not attend. I had a repre- 

 sentative there but I understand that the general reaction of all of 

 the parties who attended, and maybe I am stating this incorrectly, 

 was a bit of confusion as to how do we go or where do we go from 

 here, because, as I say, particularly from the budgetary aspect, it is 

 one thing to say that the Navy or some other agency shall contribute 

 30 percent of the thing and at the same time to get a definite commit- 

 ment from the Navy that they are going to be able to contribute 30 

 percent against it. 



Mr. Drewry. The point I was leading to. Admiral, was that at this 

 stage it is very early for all of us. As I see our program here with 

 this committee, we are endeavoring to find out just what is being done 

 at present in oceanography and what related fields will benefit from 

 it. So that in a sense we are groping too, and after making our 

 survey in the field of what is being done, we will then proceed to find 

 out how we go from there. 



As I understood, this present more or less informal interdepart- 

 mental group was in the administrative level doing a similar thing 

 in trading views and putting heads together to see how a program 

 can be shaped up. 



