54 



In the case of the U.S., there is a distinct separation between the funding 

 source (NSF) and the participating institutions. NSF is not a voting 

 member of JOIDES, although it holds a liaison seat on each of its 

 constituent bodies because of the NSF role as overall manager of the 

 program. 



Practices in this regard vary among the international members. In some 

 cases, the Government agency which signs the MOU is also the JOIDES 

 member; in others, another institution will be designated to represent the 

 national scientific community. For West Germany, for example, the 

 cognizant Government agency is the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft , which 

 is similar to the NSF; but the JOIDES member is the national geological 

 survey, the Bundesanstalt fur Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe. For France, 

 in contrast, a single agency, the Institut Francais de Recherche pour 

 1 'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER), carries out both functions. 



In our view, both models work equally well. They simply reflect 

 differences in national approaches to the support of basic research and the 

 internal organization of their marine geology and geophysics communities. 



The principal instrumentalities of JOIDES are an Executive Committee 

 (EXCOM) and a Planning Committee (PCOM). EXCOM, which provides overall 

 management and policy guidance, is comprised of senior managers of the 

 member institutions -- deans, department chairmen, or their bureaucratic 

 equivalents. PCOM members are senior working scientists, named to 

 represent their national or institutional research community. The member 

 institutions are careful to maintain scientific balance in PCOM, with 

 appropriate representation of disciplinary and regional specialties. 



PCOM is the focal point for all scientific planning for ODP. It has a 

 network of panels and working groups which screen drilling proposals, 

 evaluate instrumentation and measurement techniques, and assess geophysical 

 survey data and other safety and siting information.- PCOM screens the 

 recommendations of these panels and committees to select drilling targets, 

 specify the major scientific objectives of each leg, and provide the 

 operators with nominations for co-chief scientists. The operators and 

 their subcontractors are responsible for producing detailed ship's tracks, 

 actual drilling schedules, and final scientific rosters, but these are 

 developed with close interaction with PCOM and the cognizant panels or 

 working groups. 



In the view of the international scientific community, membership in 

 JOIDES, and in particular, the right to seats on PCOM and the planning 

 panels, is the single most important and most jealously guarded attribute 

 of membership in ODP. JOIDES decisions on scientific priorities are at the 

 heart of the entire program. The PCOM is a constant source of quality 

 control and performance evaluation for the operators and contractors. 

 Although the ODP has provisions for management oversight, audits, and 

 formal reviews of contractor performance, praise and criticism from PCOM 

 are the feedback which have the greatest influence on program management 

 decisions. 



Voting procedures for EXCOM and PCOM have been carefully crafted to deal 

 with the built-in U.S. majority (10 U.S. vs. 4 current or 6 anticipated 

 international votes). For any resolution to be enacted, the specified 2/3 

 affirmative majority must include at least one non-U. S. member. In 

 practice, the groups rarely vote, most decisions being taken by consensus 



