EFFECTIVENESS OF THE COMMITTEE ON OCEANOGRAPHY 143 



Statement of Dr. Arthur E. Maxwell, Head, Geophysics Branch, Office 

 of Naval Research and Chairman of the Interagency Committee on 

 Oceanography Panel on International Programs 



Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, it is a great pleasure to appear 

 before you, also, as Chairman of the Panel on International Programs of the 

 Interagency Committee on Oceanography. Although this Panel has not been in 

 existence very long, I feel it would be of interest at this time to give you a resume 

 of why the Panel was formed, what we have done, and what we plan to do in 

 the future. 



Mr. Chairman, through your own personal contacts, I know you are well 

 aware that the U.S. Government has recently assumed new international respon- 

 sibilities in the field of oceanography. These responsibilities result primarily, 

 from a series of international meetings sponsored by the United Nations 

 Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) which have culmi- 

 nated in the formation of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. 

 This Commission held its first meeting in Paris from October 19 to 27, 1961. 

 Fortunately, the Chairman of this Committee and members of his staff were able 

 to attend this meeting and therefore, I need not go into details of the meeting 

 other than to express the fact that this Commission is enthusiastically supported 

 by 40 nationsand a number of international organizations. The principal 

 accomplishment of the meeting was the adoption of a number of resolutions by 

 the Commission that require actions on the part of member States. Although I 

 do not intend to read these resolutions in full at this time, I will refer to them 

 ocassionally throughout my talk and with the chairman's permission, I would 

 like to leave a copy of the summary report of the first session of the Intergovern- 

 mental Oceanographic Commission with the committee to be made a part of 

 the record. 



One result of the Commission meeting was to stimulate the Interagency Com- 

 mittee on Oceanography (ICO) into taking a more aggressive course of action 

 with respect to international oceanographic programs. This was reflected in the 

 form of comprehensive discussions within both the Research Panel and the Survey 

 Panel of the ICO, as well as at the ICO meeting of December 21, 1961. At this 

 meeting, the Chairman of the ICO asked that I call a special meeting of repre- 

 sentatives from the member agencies to discuss specifically the problem of estab- 

 lishing a Panel on International Programs. On the 28th of December 1961, 

 this ad hoc group met and, after reviewing the resolutions of the Commission, 

 recommended to the Chairman of the Interagency Committee that a Panel on 

 International Programs be established. In addition, this ad hoc group suggested 

 the following guidelines as the charter for the proposed Panel: (1) The Panel 

 would have the responsibility to insure that U.S. participation in the Commission 

 activities and other international programs proceeded in an aggressive, judicious, 

 and timely manner. This would include assistance to the State Department in 

 the preparation of U.S. position papers for future Comnvssion meetings, the 

 collation of existing international programs and the development of new inter- 

 national programs; (2) the Panel would provide a forum whereby various U.S. 

 inputs to the Commission and other international programs could have a com- 

 mon meeting point. This focus of international efforts would insure that the 

 U.S. Government, especially the Interagency Committee on Oceanography, would 

 be aware of all aspects of U.S. participation in international programs. 



These recommendations were considered by the Interagency Committee on 

 Oceanography on January 11. 1962, at which time the Panel was formally 

 established. 



Membership of the Panel consists of the following persons: 



Dr. A. E. Maxwell, Chairman, Office of Naval Research. 



Dr. H. B. Stewart, Jr., U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. 



Comdr. R. J. Alexander, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. 



Mr. V. Brock, Bureau of Commercial Fisheries. 



Dr. I. E. Wallen, Atomic Energy Commission. 



Col. W. R. Sturges, State Department. 



Dr. J. Lyman, National Science Foundation. 



Mr. R. B. Abel, ex officio, Office of Naval Research. 



Comdr. S. N. Anastasion, ex officio, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the 

 Navy (R. & D.). 



Dr. P. M. Fye, observer, National Academy of Sciences (Woods Hole Ocean- 

 ographic Institution). 



