20 OCEAN SCIENCES AND NATIONAL SECURITY 



Further, since Russia is largely a landbouud country, it has been suggested her 

 primary interest in the sea might well be for aggressive purposes. 



It is noteworthy in this respect that the Soviet Union's chief target in either a 

 hot or cold war, the United States, has the largest coastline of any nation in the 

 world. 



Reds Gain Rapidly 



Soviet oceanography 10 years ago was provincial. Today, it is worldwide in 

 scope and progressing rapidly. Russia has initiated a crash program in ocean 

 study comparable to the rocket-outer space efTort that produced Sputnik. 



For it is increasingly accepted in scientific circles that whoever controls the 

 seas and whoever knows most about them— not only from coast to coast, but from 

 top to bottom, as well — could conceivably control the world, the effect of airpower 

 notwithstanding. 



These are the concerted views of America's leading oceanographers, qualitatively 

 among the world's best, who have been interviewed exclusively bj' the Standard- 

 Times to find out how the United States stands in a scientific race on which the 

 world's survival could rest. For the future depends upon the sea, which covers 

 three-fourths of the Earth's surface, and contains the answers to m.ost of its pressing 

 problems. 



By comparison, they say, rocketry, missiles, space transport, and the like are 

 essentially adventures in gadgetry. That is why most oceanographers, seriously 

 concerned at the prospect of Russia establishing a long lead in the Earth sciences, 

 warn : 



"Spend all of America's might and money on rockets, and you will still lose the 

 war with Russia, whether it be cold or hot." 



Seas To Be Decisive 



To the degree to which the Soviets gain a lead in oceanography, the possibility 

 of war increases. If there is war, there is sound reason to believe the seas — not 

 the air or outer space — will be the decisive theater of military operations. 



As weapon systems evolve the submarine-launched missile will prove to be the 

 most effective, for it will be extremely difficult to tell where it came from, and 

 it can be launched close to the target, allowing little time for defense tactics. By 

 contrast, the intercontinental ballistic missile will allow defenders .'-cveral thou- 

 sand miles worth of reaction time before it arrives in the target area. 



The ocean also is the medium over which America must carry sup]:)lies and suj)- 

 port to its allies if the free world is to stand. Further, in the modern concept of 

 atomic war, the seas' depths are the most effective hiding place for concealing 

 both offensive and defensive action. 



If there is cold war only, there still remains the present struggle for balance of 

 power in the world. Of tantamount importance in this East-West contest for 

 alliances are the underdeveloped "have not" nations, which require such basics 

 as food and fuel. Also torn between necessities and loyalties are many of the 

 more developed coiintries, which are in pressing need of cheap power and new 

 sources of minerals and metals when petering-out mines are exhausted. 



Ocean Holds Keys 



In the ocean lies the answer to all of these things, fundamentally important in 

 peace, critical in war. Either Russia or the United States will find the keys to 

 these secrets, since no other nation is making anything like the deepwater scientific 

 effort of these two^ — and the Soviet effort is several times that of America. 



The nation that does score an eventui-l breakthrough on any of these principal 

 marine fronts will be in a greatly enhanced })osition, through prestige, politics, 

 and persuasion, to tip the worldwide balance of power. 



As an example, which way would India's hungry millions look for leadership. 

 East or West, if Russia first found a jiractical means of providing limitless quan- 

 tities of fish protein for V/^ cents a pound or less to Nehru's money-poor country? 

 Protein is a principal lack of the Indian diet, and this question will be answered 

 one day. 



A statement by Senator Warren G. Magniison on "Critical Lag in 

 Oceanograpliic Research," was placed in the Congressional BeconI, 

 June 1, 1959, page A4591 b}- vSenator A.S. MikeMonroney (Oklalioma): 



