167 



So I think, with all that is being said, hopefully, with this new 

 clearinghouse, and I fully support the concept that's been outlined 

 by Admiral Watkins in terms of the ocean partnership act, we'll 

 hopefully be able to cull all this scientific data and make some pre- 

 dictions. 



Because unless we do that, the political capital that's going to be 

 able to be leveraged to support initiatives that we're talking about 

 here is not going to be here. 



It's already been testified to, that fact, today in the hearing. If 

 it weren't for the Navy and the necessity of the Navy to test acous- 

 tics and sonar rays and to be able to research the oceanographic 

 and the seabed because of the threat of nuclear submarines and so 

 forth, a lot of this research wouldn't happen. 



And to answer Congressman Roemer's question about how are 

 we going to drive this, fortunately or unfortunately, a lot of it is 

 going to be driven most directly by our national security. 



And that's where I'm encouraged by the fact that now our chal- 

 lenge in the littoral warfare environment is the coastal zone. It's 

 the exact area that we need to focus most on, environmentally. 



So if it has to be the Navy that fields the unmanned underwater 

 vehicles or the kinds of tools that allow us to cull this science, so 

 be it. But we've learned here today that that research that the 

 Navy undertakes has a broad range of applicability to the broader 

 environment. And vice versa. 



So I think what we've heard today is a beautiful explanation 

 from all the panelists about the need for this Ocean Partnership 

 Act because if the Navy diminishes its research in one area, obvi- 

 ously, it's playing that shell game. 



Just two years ago, the Congress had the big debate on our 

 health care industry. There was a lot of talk about global budget- 

 ing. 



Well, if there's ever an area where this shell game will be a law 

 of diminishing returns if it's not put into this global budgeting, it's 

 this area of the environment. How do we take all this science and 

 make it help itself in an interdependent way? 



So I would like the panelists to comment on maybe the law of 

 the sea because that's now something that's relevant in discussing 

 the need for us not only to cull all our resources on a national basis 

 within our own country, but also internationally, how they see the 

 law of the sea figuring in this discussion that we're having. 



If I could turn it back to the panelists. 



Mr. Weldon. Whoever would like to respond — Admiral Boorda 

 and then Dr. Alberts. 



Admiral BoORDA. For the military, you could not have found a 

 more complex question to ask when you began to ask about law of 

 the sea. 



Mr. Kennedy. I heard myself starting to sound like Congress- 

 man Gilchrist. Both of us have a lot we want to say, as well as the 

 Chairman, and we get off on our own tangents. 



Admiral BooRDA. We have a lot of lawyers in the Department of 

 Defense and the Department of State. I have two in my family and 

 that's not even enough to solve this problem. 



It is basically interpretations of what that law means in the pri- 

 vate sector. But in the military sector, under the current conven- 



