Mr. Ortiz. Without objection. All the testimonies that the wit- 

 nesses have will be included in the record. 



Dr. OsTENSO. Very well. Thank you. The roots of the National 

 Undersea Research Program go back to the late 1970's when there 

 was a growing need and an awareness of the need for scientists to 

 gather data in situ throughout the water column of the ocean. Also 

 about that time there was an, unfortunately, tragic accident associ- 

 ated with germen habitat off the East Coast of the United States. 



As a result of this growing pressure and that accident, it was de- 

 termined that the nation's civil oceanographic community would 

 best be served by having a central source of support for its capacity 

 to work at sea. And that is when the NOAA Manned Undersea Sci- 

 ence and Technology (MUST) program was converted to the Na- 

 tional Undersea Research Program. That conversion was based on 

 a number of principles that we have adhered to throughout the his- 

 tory of the program and that I think are fundamentally sound. 



One of those principles was that it would basically be a support 

 mechanism, not a research funding mechanism and would support 

 the broader based research community. It would support the entire 

 civilian research community based on the principle of peer review 

 and competition. Also, the operation of the program would be 

 through university managed regional centers, and, finally, to the 

 extent possible, we would rely upon leased assets rather than de- 

 veloping an in-house federal capability except for the most exotic 

 technology that we couldn't get from the open marketplace. This 

 would help do two things: Support a broadly based industry and 

 provide us a research capability that met the research agenda 

 rather than torquing research around to meet our existing hard- 

 ware. 



These are principles that I think have held us in good stead 

 throughout the history of the program. Many of my fellow panel- 

 ists at this table took part in developing these history-setting guide- 

 lines. Since then, over 5,000 scientists participated in the use of 

 this capability, including participants from 20 foreign countries. 

 Within the United States, this participation has included 23 Feder- 

 al and 7 state agencies, in addition to 36 independent laboratories 

 such as the American Museum of Natural History. And, finally, it 

 has involved the active participation of 96 academic institutions. So 

 as you can see, it is not exactly a parochial program. 



This, along with my prepared testimony, concludes the remarks I 

 have. I would be happy to answer any questions now or after the 

 panel discussion. 



[The prepared statement of Dr. Ostenso may be found at the end 

 of the hearing.] 



Mr. Ortiz. Thank you very much. Doctor. Now, we will have Dr. 

 Bright's testimony. 



STATEMENT OF THOMAS J. BRIGHT, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SEA 

 GRANT COLLEGE PROGRAM, TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY 



Dr. Bright. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will telegraph my testi- 

 mony as well and hope you will recognize that I have submitted 

 this in written form. 



