EFFECTIVENESS OF THE COMMITTEE ON OCEANOGRAPHY 19 



I think it is a very excellent document, and that is why I submit it. 



Now, Mr. Chairman, if I may continue? 



Mr. Dingell. Proceed. 



Mr. Bauer. Mr. Secretary, when you look at the plans presented 

 for a budget cycle by the various departments, do you come to an 

 indication of priorities? In other words, if you have so much money, 

 what are the relative priorities? Is it defense, commercial fisheries, 

 sport fisheries, and so on? Do you consider that in your discussion? 



Mr. Wakelin. Yes. Each one of the panels which reviews our 

 programs, in the areas into which our program is broken, consider first 

 the submissions of the agencies, the scientific content, the roles and 

 missions of the agencies with respect to the programs they have sub- 

 mitted, and then they themselves arrange roughly in an order of 

 priority the most important to the least important items. 



Now, these are reviewed first with respect to their content and 

 with respect to the national program in that particular field. Then 

 we as a committee have to review the budget implications of these 

 suggestions. These suggestions, of course, are not always considered 

 at the same level in the ICO as they are developed in the panel struc- 

 ture. 



We have to arrange a series of priorities, and then estimate what we 

 consider the best overall balanced program in the national effort 

 should be, with a certain amount of money available. 



Mr. Bauer. Well, that being the case, it looks as though it is a 

 year-to-year operation. Is that correct? 



Mr. Wakelin. Yes, sir. 



Mr. Bauer. Now, along that line, what is the first priority? If 

 there is so much money in the pot, who comes first? 



Mr. Wakelin. I don't think any individual agencies come first. 



Mr. Bauer. What field, is it national defense, perhaps? 



Mr. Wakelin. I don't believe that I can answer that in terms of 

 our national program. I would certainly say that national defense is 

 a very important part of the oceanographic program. 



Mr. Bauer. Well, supposing that the Coast Survey wished to 

 conduct a survey. Should the survey be from the interest of national 

 defense, first, with so much money available, or should it be from the 

 Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, or the Bureau of Sports Fisheries, 

 or the Geological Survey, or the production of information for navi- 

 gational aids? Someone must make a decision on priorities, must 

 they not? 



Let us just take the survey for an example. 



Mr. Wakelin. On the survey effort, we have an extensive sur- 

 vey effort in the Department of the Navy in defense, which is not 

 entirely related to our national effort in oceanography. These are 

 defense items which are vital to our existence as a nation in terms of 

 seapower, and the knowledge of the seas. 



Mr. Bauer. Well, does not the Coast Survey contribute toward 

 that effort? 



Mr. Wakelin. Of course. 



Mr. Bauer. In other words, if the Joint Chiefs of Staff put a re- 

 quirement that such-and-such a survey is necessary, and you are cog- 

 nizant of that, I presume, in your ICO? 



Mr. Wakelin. Indeed. 



