627 



data, decimated or smoothed data, or in particularly sensitive 

 instances, only derived products. This report does not attempt 

 to give guidance bearing directly on the details of such a 

 compromise position on declassification, nor do the priorities 

 in Table 2 account for this dimension. Therefore, in anticipa- 

 tion of the Navy eventually facing the necessity to understand 

 declassification payoffs vs. national security nsks. it is our view 

 that a declassification review of these environmental data 

 should Include MEDEA involvement ( in a scientific advisory 

 capacity) in order that the necessary compromises elicit the 

 most scientifically useful data. 



IMPROVING CAPABILITIES IN OCEAN SCIENCE 

 Discussion 



The Navy has developed U^ly unique capabilities to synthesize 

 oceanographic products from diverse and heterogeneous data 

 and to display the results in useful graphical forms. Beyond the 

 more traditional forms of product generation involving large- 

 scale ocean thermal, salinity, and density fields, this synthesis 

 now includes the development of small-scale regional models 

 in selected ocean areas of naval interest and the exploitation of 

 imagery, including classified NTM imagery. This product 

 synthesis capability, if it were opened to civilian use, could lead 

 to an expanded national benefit. There has been a considerable 

 investment of public funds in these capabilities, and scientific 

 access would pave the way for ocean science to move more 

 rapidly into small-scale oceanography. 



The intelligence community, with congressional support, has 

 established a program to collect and archive classified NTM 

 imagery data collected from a set of reference sites that will be 

 regularly surveyed over lime periods ranging from years to 

 decades. Currently, in excess of 200 sites are being considered 

 for data collection. This Global Fiducial Data Program is 

 intended to archive data to be used in scientific studies of the 

 global environment albeit requiring classified access. Some of 

 these measurement sites are ocean areas, and one important 

 result of the present MEDEA study has been the realization that 

 scientific exploitation of the ocean fiducial data must involve 

 analytical use of correlative NAVOCEANO oceanographic 

 data. These "correlative data" are in many cases the same as 

 that discussed in Chapter II: ocean thermal and salinity structure, 

 high-resolution bathymetry, etc. The proper scienufic 



exploitation of the ocean fiducial data is, therefore, closely tied 

 to ensuring access to NAVOCEANO's databases and 

 modeling capabilities. 



On the other hand, there are few regular and effective 

 mechanisms for the fiow of information to naval oceano- 

 graphy from academia. It is our conviction that such a flow of 

 information, involving modest collections of irregularly 

 sampled "shoe box" measurements or recent progress in 

 dynamic ocean models, for example, would be of considerable 

 benefit to naval oceanography and to the accuracy of fleet 

 products. 



Several institutional mechanisms would have to be put in place 

 to facilitate access to classified information if scientists are to 

 realize full benefits from the environmental data holdings of the 

 national security community. Theestablishmentofaconsistent, 

 long-term environmental record of digital data could benefit 

 from the participation of cleared members of the environmental 

 science community in the collection requirements process (as 

 is being done in the Global Fiducial Data Program). 



The environmental science community might also participate 

 in the development of policies to ensure that archival products 

 are of maximum utility to the environmental community. For 

 example, these policies could provide guidance to the national 

 security community as to which data to index, abstract, 

 declassify, and transmit outside their facilities. Environmental 

 scientists could also benefit from the establishment of processes 

 and systems for requesting data and transforming material for 

 distribution. Finally, the development of new concepts of 

 operations that support the complementary use of classified and 

 civilian sensors could also be investigated These could include 

 processes to implement sensor cross-cueing, develop composite 

 products, and perform calibration and validation. 



FINDINGS 



The bndge building path with institutional mechanisms and 



links between the civilian and Navy oceanography communities 

 has many of the same features as the road toward scientific 

 exploitation of oceanographic data that must yet remain 

 classified. The findings covering these dimensions are 

 suinmanzed in Table 3. 



