OCEAN SCIENCES AND NATIONAL SECURITY HI 



5. Research programs are often characterized by the proportion of 

 basic research necessary to refresh the general fund of Ivnowledge from 

 which appKcations are made. A fau'ly substantial proportion of 

 funds appear to be available for basic, undu'ected research. Never- 

 theless, most laboratories are obliged to conduct mixed progi-ams 

 wherein the applied research is accepted as a means of Mscal solvency. 

 Schedules of research vessels may be so afi'ected to accommodate ap- 

 plied programs that the proportion of funds available for basic re- 

 search may not be a reliable mdicator of the amount of basic research 

 that is being accomplished. 



6. Because the Federal Government is a dommant sponsor of re- 

 search in the sea, the programs heavily reflect responsibilities of the 

 particular Government agencies administering the programs. 



7. Although extensive inventories have been made of the Navy's 

 contract research program in oceanography, its "inhouse" program 

 and capabilities have not been studied or integrated, possibly because 

 many of these have until recently been heavily developmental or 

 nonexistent. 



B. MANPOWER 



1. The total number of senior and junior scientists participating 

 in ocean research was estimated in 1958 to be less than 1,600. In 

 view of the subject matter and geographical scope of this field, these 

 scientists must be thinly spread. 



2. Fewer than 600 U.S. senior scientists are engaged in some phase 

 of oceanic research on a full-time basis. This segment represents less 

 than two-tenths percent of the estimated 300,000 professionally quali- 

 fied persons having project-leader responsibilities for research and 

 development in this country. 



3. The size and scope of the existing national program is thus 

 sharply limited by this small number of participants. Moreover, 

 any expansion in rate of effort will continue to be critically keyed to 

 the availability of trained manpower. 



4. Because of its being a derivative rather than basic scientific 

 discipline, oceanography can draw manpower from other fields, such as 

 physics, chemistry, biology, etc. In fact, specifically trained ocea- 

 nographers may represent only about one-eighth of the total number 

 of participants, others coming from the aforementioned fields, and 

 mixed fields of geochemistry, geophysics, biophysics, meteorology as 

 well as from many branches of engineering. 



5. Additions in manpower may be developed from two sources: 

 transfer of scientists from other relevant fields, and training of in- 

 creasing numbers of students whose career goals are focused on 

 oceanic research. Gains by training students are preferred so as not 

 to drain oft* persons from other fields also suffering manpower shortages. 



6. The Ph. D. content of scientists in oceanic research is higher 

 than most other fields, which raises the question as to whether greater 

 numbers of personnel with less formal training, and ev^en technicians, 

 might be profitably employed. 



7. Althougli sahuy data were not directly available, there is the 

 strong sugg(>stion that fuiancial compensation in oceanography is 

 relatively low. There may thus be some difficidty in recruiting 

 personnel from the basic sciences, in competition with other fields, 

 such as research in outer space in which salaries have advanced faster. 



