OCEAN SCIENCES AND NATIONAL SECURITY 



I. Summary 



With hopes for agreement on peaceful coexistence once again 

 recently shaken, leaders of both political parties have noted that the 

 United States faces a future full of uncertainties. They argue, fur- 

 (lier, that the only sure course of survival lies in a plurality of co- 

 ordinated programs to develop our political, economic, and scientific 

 resources as well as our military. In that context, the sea — which has 

 historically served the United States in a dual role as a natural geo- 

 gi'aphical barrier against aggression and as a medium of peaceful 

 commerce — appears destined to be closel}^ linked with national se- 

 cm^ity. At the same time, the sea — which covers almost three- 

 fourths of the Earth's surface- — -has remained almost completely un- 

 explored. A major question, which tlu'ough pending legislation is on 

 the agenda of the 86th Congress, concerns how this Nation can best 

 mobilize for a concerted long-range program of research and explora- 

 tion of and in the sea. 



Planning for the future now has the benefit of several compre- 

 hensive studies of the content and m^gency of the needs for new 

 hiformation, and of the present posture of the United States in terms 

 <if its oceanographic research capabilities. Proposals have been for- 

 mulated of specific steps to remedy what has been generally con- 

 sidered a neglect of the ocean sciences. The most incisive study was 

 that undertaken by a new Committee on Oceanography of the Na- 

 tional Academy of Sciences, which was organized in the Fall of 1957 

 at the request of several Government agencies that recognized the 

 problem and had jurisdiction over oceanographic research. A second 

 independent study was undertaken by the Navy Department itself 

 and a third, more recently, by the Interagency Committee on Ocea- 

 nography. 



All concur on the vital significance of the oceans to the national 

 welfare and on the disproportionately small fraction of our national 

 scientific resources in terms of manpower and funds that is now 

 devoted to oceanic research. Proposals were outlined in considerable 

 detail to accelerate this effort promptl}', such that the level of effort 

 10 years hence would be roughly 3 to 4 times that at present. These 

 proposals involve Federal expenditures at that time of approximately 

 $85 million per year in contrast to the 1958 base used for the study 

 of §24 million per year. According to these proposals, an even higher 

 rate of appropriations during this 10-year interval is recommended to 

 replace obsolete and overage research vessels, frequently converted 

 from fishing trawlers, that now characterize the research fleet. 



Only 1,600 junior and senior scientists are now engaged full time in 

 oceanic research, and considering the scope of subject matter and 



