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others — and we look for opportunities to make them 

 available when it does not interfere with our primary 

 mission or adversely impact our financial or security 

 position. Likewise, we will embrace proposals from 

 other entities who wish to leverage their investments 

 by partnering with us. 



There is little doubt that the Navy's cumulative 

 investment in oceanography provides for a strong 

 position in the National oceanographic leadership. 

 Yet, I am not satisfied that we have done as much as we 

 can to support the oceanographic needs of our Naval and 

 DoD forces -- my first priority. Two areas are worthy 

 of mention as examples: 



o We need greater understanding of the ocean's 

 fundamental processes. For decades we focused on 

 understanding, describing and predicting the few, 

 rather large and conservative features of the deep 

 ocean that affected acoustic transmission and, 

 therefore, submarine detection. Today, we must still 

 concern ourselves with that problem and ensure our deep 

 water skill is not lost. But, we now face additional 



