624 



RECOMMEND A TIONS 



The major product of this study is a set of recommendations 

 encompassing three dimensions: 



• An identification of the potential for the Navy ' s oceanographic 

 databases to support important scientific research, should 

 public release become possible; 



• A determination of how scientific benefit, consistent 

 with national priorities in science and technology, can 

 be obtained from those data that national security concerns 

 have thus far prevented from being publicly available; and, 



• A specification of means whereby closer ties between 

 the naval and civilian oceanography communities could be 

 achieved '.hat would be a significant benefit to both parties. 



Table I contains the top-level recommendations of this study. 

 In combination, these recommendations, if adopted, would 

 result in greater exploitation and societal benefit of the 

 considerable public investment in the unique environmental 

 databases and modeling capabilities developed by the Navy 

 during the decades of the cold war. In addition, through 

 improved ties to its basic research underpinnings, the applied 

 science of naval oceanography would be strengthened. 



It would be beyond the purview of this study to become 

 enmeshed in issues related to the possible implementation of 

 the recommendations to follow. However, it is very clear that 

 resources will be required, including some level of manpower, 

 perhaps some investment in hardware and software for 

 processing and data exploitation, and, of course, time and 

 funding. Here we can only recognize the need to examine the 

 resource question without quantifying its magnitude. 



Tabl 



