study the oceans, I'm very concerned about what we know about 

 the oceans as a matter of national defense and security. 



On the other hand, through my affiUation with ACOPS and my 

 position as Chairman of the Oceans Task Force of GLOBE USA — 

 Global Legislators for a Balanced Environment — I am also con- 

 cerned with ocean research from an environmental standpoint. 



We're going to combine the two, even to a greater extent than 

 has been done in the past. 



We know much about the oceans, but at the same time, we know 

 very little. Within the scientific community and certainly now in 

 the Department of Defense, we have the latest powerful super- 

 computers, sensors and analytical tools that can unravel the 

 oceans' secrets to further aid and strengthen our defense, under- 

 stand world weather problems, predict sea life behavior, protect the 

 environment, and develop the potential to generate new, improved 

 industries that rely on the oceans. 



As a maritime nation, we should be concerned about our ability 

 to defend our maritime territories and maintain our ability to con- 

 trol the seas in wartime. 



As citizens and legislators, we are also concerned about our 

 shores and ocean economic zones. In particular, we should focus on: 

 finding reasons for the decline of world-wide fisheries; understand- 

 ing our paucity of ocean industrial endeavors; maintaining the en- 

 vironmental health of our oceans and tributaries; and exploring 

 ways to prevent certain countries from continuing to use the oceans 

 as a dumping ground for nuclear and other toxic wastes. 



To this end, in the spring of last year, Senator Kerry and I co- 

 hosted an international forum on the oceans on the Senate side, 

 where we had 200 leading experts fi*om around the country come 

 to this city to talk about these and other issues. 



Therefore, we in the Congress have a responsibility to ensure 

 that ocean research continues and that there is a way to refocus 

 it, improve technology transfer, and cooperate with partnerships to 

 make it more productive and effective to meet the needs of our 

 community. 



This is what this initiative is all about. 



It's about refocusing — setting a meaningful agenda that meets 

 the needs of national defense, other public good, and our industry, 

 large and small. 



It's about efficiency — working smarter, more efficiently in har- 

 mony and communication through partnering arrangements. 



And it's about dual-use — expanding the world that we do for de- 

 fense into a s3Tiergistic leveraging mechanism for both defense and 

 civilian applications. 



So we have gathered our panelists here today to hear their 

 thoughts about the best way to turn this initiative into reality. It 

 is through their expertise that we can determine ways that govern- 

 ment agencies and departments can leverage their oceanographic 

 resources through partnership relationships. 



In addition, we will supplement this hearing with a series of 

 briefings to be held around the country, to hear from developers 

 and users of ocean technology at the regional level. 



Our first briefing, which was held last Monday at the Naval War 

 College in Newport, Rhode Island, successfully brought together a 



