We appreciate the opportunity to testify on dual use. We think 

 that this concept offers potential for fundamental advances for 

 ocean research and operations in general and for NOAA specifical- 



ly. 



These eyes and ears that are developed and operated at consider- 

 able expense to help defend our Nation can give us an unprece- 

 dented view of the ocean environment, including our management 

 of living resources, prediction of natural disasters, knowledge of cli- 

 mate change and information on a whole host of other critical 

 issues. 



We see here a high payoff for a low investment. We believe that 

 much still must be done to prove this potential. Some significant 

 steps have been taken and many scientists feel the promise is good. 

 We need now to identify the systems and technologies that are 

 most likely to have useful environmental applications, to test and 

 prove the most promising concepts, resolve the security and classi- 

 fication concerns about civilian use, and establish mechanisms and 

 resources for dual use operation. 



We believe that close cooperation among the Department of De- 

 fense, other Federal agencies, the civilian academic community and 

 private industry can make this work. 



Various interagency panels and working groups are now engaged 

 in this first step. NOAA has participated in preliminary projects 

 and anticipates more in the future. The process is working and we 

 think that with encouragement it will succeed. 



Let me speak first about the Integrated Undersea Surveillance 

 System. We have several new applications that involve this new 

 system. It is designed to locate and track ships and submarines 

 acoustically. For several years now, NOAA scientists at our Pacific 

 Marine Environmental laboratory (PMEL) have been working with 

 the Navy to use the system as a research tool in their Vents Pro- 

 gram. Their emphasis has been to detect, locate, and describe hy- 

 drothermal activity throughout the North Pacific Basin. Addition- 

 ally, NOAA scientists at the National Marine Mammal Laboratory 

 have identified and located endangered whales in the North Pacific 

 using lUSS information. 



The work has proven very successful, both as good science and as 

 a demonstration of NOAA/Navy cooperation. In fact, this collabo- 

 ration has been a stimulant for NOAA to seek other uses of this 

 underwater system. 



This project has evolved over several years to where it now uses 

 a realtime data link from the Navy system to NOAA's facility in 

 Newport, Oregon. There, the incoming acoustic data are processed 

 to detect signals from volcanic and seismic activity. In a dramatic 

 success, just recently this link detected and located a below the sur- 

 face volcanic eruption just as it started a few weeks ago. A re- 

 search ship in the area was alerted and sent to the location. It was 

 able to collect rare water samples at the event. This type of quick 

 response to a rare event, and the monitoring of more frequent hy- 

 drothermal venting events would only be practical with dual use of 

 the lUSS. 



Other significant lUSS applications have been proposed as well. 

 These include: 



