49 



At the same time, we face decreasing financial resources with 

 which to work. 



The oceans are important to the nation as a driver of weather 

 and clim.ate, as a marine highway, to Hnk the United States with 

 the global economy. About 99 percent of all the goods that come 

 into the United States come in ship. 



As a vital source of food, oil and gas. 



As a source of new medicines and other resources for sustainable 

 economic development. 



As a source of recreational opportunities and a theater for de- 

 fense. 



NOAA works actively with the Navy, the Departments of State 

 and Interior, the Coast Guard, the Geological Survey, the Defense 

 Mapping Agency, NASA, the National Science Foundation, the in- 

 telligence community. We work closely with private industry, state 

 governments, academia, and environmental organizations to carry 

 this out. 



But we have to say that our multi-agency cooperation efforts 

 have fallen short in meeting critical national goals. This short- 

 coming costs the nation in lost ocean potential for societal benefits. 

 It harms the perception of societal justification for the nation's 

 ocean programs. And these effects will grow as the importance of 

 the oceans grows. 



The nation's oceans agencies are increasingly constrained by re- 

 sources. The ocean research budget is declining. For example, 

 ocean research has dropped from about 7 percent to less than 4 

 percent of federal basic research money in the last 14 years, even 

 as ocean issues have increased in importance and complexity. 



In another example, NOAA must be able to go to sea, for every- 

 thing from research to operations. And yet, our resources for sea- 

 going facilities, whether in-house or contracted out to private in- 

 dustry or academia, are diminishing. There is no certainty that we 

 can gain replacement ship services for less cost. 



In the third example, opportunities for NOAA to leverage multi- 

 billion dollar defense systems before they degrade or shut down are 

 also being lost. Ocean programs die without ships or aircraft, sat- 

 ellites, buoys, computers or other unique systems. 



These are the tools we need to gather data, process it, distribute 

 it, archive it for societal benefit. 



NOAA and its other agencies involved in ocean studies are co- 

 operating to keep our programs operational and in the field. But 

 to successfully meet the nation's increasing important ocean needs 

 will require increased support. 



Mr. Chairman, my written testimony goes into detail on the co- 

 operative programs that NOAA participates in with the Depart- 

 ment of Defense, the academic community and internationally, and 

 I won't try to list those here. They'll be made part of the written 

 testimony. 



I'd just like to point out that when I took the job as NOAA ad- 

 ministrator, I worked with DOD to strengthen our ties between 

 NOAA and the Department of Defense on oceans programs and sat- 

 ellites in particular and established to help along with our very 

 strong Navy connections and Air Force connection so that we have 



