23 



Dr. OsTENSO. I feel a little bit constrained in answering your 

 question. The existence of the Environmental Task Force is quite 

 well-known. It is an effort to bring together the defense and intelli- 

 gence agencies with the civil scientific community, to identify the 

 opportunities for conversion and co-use. There are about 60 people, 

 all of whom are there by virtue of their individual expertise. They 

 are not there representing an organization. 



In an effort to protect their privacy, because as you can imagine, 

 this is quite a popular thing, a deliberate effort has been made to 

 keep the membership of the task force rather closely-held. The list 

 as a whole, has not been widely distributed. 



In this long answer, the process is for the agencies to sit down 

 with the research communities in all sectors and to quietly work 

 out where areas of common and mutual interest are. This has been 

 a very, very open process, open in the sense that the exchange has 

 been free, nothing has been held back from the research communi- 

 ty, and we are in the process now of collating all that data and 

 coming up with a report. 



Mr. WiNOKUR. The only thing I would add, and I agree with 

 Doctor Ostenso's comments, is that the Navy as well as the other 

 defense agencies have been cooperating fully with the Environmen- 

 tal Task Force, and what I would suggest is that an appropriate 

 briefing be provided to you and members of the staff by the Chair- 

 man of the task force who is better suited to really address what is 

 happening with the task force directly. But clearly, all of us here 

 are supportive of it and we have been participating fully, and we 

 could certainly pass on your interest in the task force to the Chair- 

 man. . . 



Mr. Ortiz. Yes, sir. Another area that I am very interested in is 

 the commercial value and the potential that we have, and I know 

 that several Members couldn't be here with us today because we 

 are trying to get this reconciliation package out by Friday. Other- 

 wise, we stay here a month. But I think that there are several 

 members who have different questions that they would like to 

 submit for the panel, for the record. So that you can answer that, 

 they will be included for the record. 



[The information can be found at the end of the hearing.] 



Mr. Ortiz. Anybody else who would like to say something? 



We have a vote now in process, and we may have a series of 

 votes later on. 



This concludes the testimony for this panel today. 



I want to thank you for the valuable testimony and insights that 

 you have shared with us today. We will submit those questions to 

 you, and I can assure you that this Committee, the Subcommittee 

 Chairman, and the Members of this panel would like to work with 

 you, and I know that together we will continue to be the leaders in 

 oceanography throughout the world. 



Thank you very much for being with us. 



[Whereupon, at 3:45 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned, and 

 the following was submitted for the record:] 



