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PRESENTATION BY DR. PETER H. CRESSY 



CHANCELLOR, UNEVERSJTY OF MASSACHUSETTS DARTMOUTH 



CONGRESSIONAL HEARING 



MONDAY, JANUARY 22, 1996, 11:00 A.M. 



Mr. Chairman: 



Thank you very much for this opportunity to testify before your important 

 committee. Let me speak both as a Chancellor of a research university and as a 

 former admiral in the United States Navy. I fully support the importance of 

 balancing the budget and reducing the national debt as fast as is reasonably 

 possible. I believe, however, that we should do so in a way that we do not lose 

 the entrepreneurial advantage we have gained through 50 years of defense- 

 related ocean and marine science research. We should not lose the opportunity 

 to create jobs. We should not lose the opportunity to protect the ocean 

 environment. The research foundation development in ocean and marine 

 science, created by our national security effort and particularly by the U.S. Navy, 

 is a national treasure. Others will talk today about the need to continue 

 fundamental research in the ocean and coastal environment. I agree with this 

 requirement, and I believe it is entirely appropriate and in the best interest of the 

 United States and its national security to ensure that appropriate funding flows to 

 our universities and research institutes in a manner that supports national security 

 in the traditional manner, but also concerns itself with translating the discoveries 

 we make there in support of our national security in terms of our economy and the 

 environment. 



I would like to speak today of how, with relatively small dollars, we can take 

 advantage of a great deal of research that has already been accomplished in 

 submarine warfare and anti-submarine warfare, and in literal warfare particularly 

 in the areas of sensors, instrumentation, communication, and modeling, i believe 

 that the Technology Reinvestment Project and particulariy the concept of 

 Regional Technology Alliances (RTA) was fundamentally a brilliant concept. I 

 have no doubt that there may have been administrative flaws and that it may have 

 been reasonable to reduce funding in certain areas, but it was an extremely 

 innovative approach to capturing the technological advances that were the direct 

 outcome of national defense research. 



