90 



Several agencies have been assigned duties which 

 include furthering oceanic knowledge for the national 

 good; each has important competencies. But, no agency 

 requires oceanographic information to carry out its 

 basic mission more than the United States Navy. That 

 statement is not r.eant to lessen the importance of the 

 other agencies, the high regard we hold for them or our 

 dependence on the.'s. It is meant to punctuate the basic 

 and undeniable need the Navy has to understand the 

 ocean to ensure its national defense operations are 

 executed safely and effectively. So when the Chief of 

 Naval Operations tells us he wants the Navy to be a 

 National leader in oceanography and that oceanography 

 is a core requirement and responsibility of the Navy, 

 it's not because he wants another rission or because he 

 finds oceanography interesting, it is because we must 

 have a top rate global oceanographic program focused on 

 supporting Navy missions. 



For decades the Navy has recognized that in 

 developing that kind of capability, it has also 

 accumulated talent, tools, information, and resources 



