EFFECTIVENESS OF THE COMMITTEE ON OCEANOGRAPHY 9 



The implementation and the fiscal development of the program 

 remains the responsibility of the various agencies involved. Following 

 the transmission of the ICO program to the Federal Council, Mr. 

 Chairman, it is reviewed by the Council and by a special panel as- 

 sembled for this purpose by the President's science adviser. This 

 special panel and I, as Chairman of the Committee, then present 

 programs and findings jointly at a meeting of the Council. Actions 

 of the Council, including consideration of oceanography in relation 

 to other science areas requiring emphasis in the national interest, are 

 then passed to the several departments as recommendations. Note 

 here again the emphasis that the fiscal and substantive program 

 developments of our national efforts still reside at the departmental 

 level. 



At this point, Mr. Chairman, with your permission, it might be 

 well to digress and present a short history of the development of our 

 panels. During the deliberations of the subcommittee, we organized 

 several informal task groups to consider various functional areas. 

 When our status was changed and we began operations as the ICO, 

 we formalized this task group arrangement and formed Panels. 



In May 1960, the ICO established the Ocean Survey Advisory 

 Panel, and in June 1960, established panels for Research and Facilities, 

 Ships, and for the Data Center. Members of the Data Center Panel 

 culminated their w T ork in an interagency agreement establishing the 

 National Oceanographic Data Center. The agreement includes a 

 Data Center Advisory Board. While the ICO maintains an interest 

 in the progress at the Data Center, it is no longer concerned with its 

 functioning, its polic} 7 , or its direct administration. The Advisory 

 Board provides the necessary coordination with the agencies par- 

 ticipating and the administrative functions have been turned over to 

 the Hydrographic Office. 



Consequently, on January 26, 1961, the Data Center Panel was 

 disestablished. Our next step was to recognize that research and 

 facilities were each becoming major parts of our program and that 

 the ICO needed to place specific emphasis on instrumentation. 

 Consequently, also on January 26, 1961, the Research and Facilities 

 Panel was reorganized into a Research Panel and an Instrumentation 

 and Facilities Panel. The Manpower and Training Panel was 

 established on April 18, 1961, for a similar reason, that of assuring 

 specific attention to a growing manpower problem. 



The most recent development in our panel structure is the estab- 

 lishment of the International Programs Panel on January 11, 1962. 

 As you know, in July 1960 there was held at Copenhagen, Denmark, 

 the Intergovernmental Conference on Oceanographic Research. Of 

 the four members of the U.S. delegation, three were members of the 

 ICO. The conference recommended the establishment of an Inter- 

 governmental Oceanographic Commission within the structure of 

 UNESCO. The General Conference of UNESCO at its 11th session 

 in November 1960 adopted this proposal and established the Inter- 

 governmental Oceanographic Commission in order to promote scien- 

 tific investigations with a view to learning more about the nature and 

 resources of the oceans through the concerted action of its members. 

 The first session of this new IOC was convened by the Director-General 

 of UNESCO and was held at UNESCO headquarters in Paris from 

 October 19-27, 1961. 



