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I. Introduction 



A. PURPOSE 



The primary purpose of this study is to examine the various 

 classified ocean databases, products, and capabilities of the 

 Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command 

 (NAVMETOCCOM) and detennine their potential value for 

 supporting civilian scientific research, should public release 

 become possible. In addition, the study is to determine if there 

 might be important opportunities for synergistic collaboration 

 between civilian and military ocean technical communities that 

 could benefit both parties and so derive increased benefit from 

 the considerable public investment in global ocean data 

 collection and modeling previously undertaken by the Navy. 



Although aside from the primary purposes of this study, we 

 understand that the Navy also values this review because it 

 is a comprehensive and independent look by outside experts at 

 the quality of Navy data and data management processes. On 

 (his point, feedback was provided informally to the Navy 

 during the actual process of the study. We were greatly 

 impressed not only with the unique environmental data sets, but 

 also with the general scientific quality of the work and the 

 processes of data collection, analysis, and product generation. 



B. GENESIS OF THIS MEDEA STUDY 



There is a growing public understanding that changes 

 in our physical and biological environment, both natural 

 and manmade, can significantly affect the national economy, 

 our quality of life, and even the national security. For example, 

 natural disasters (e.g.. earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, 

 hurricanes, forest fires) can cause substantial loss of life and 

 material damage, changes in climate can adversely affect our 

 environment (f..^., global sea levels, agricultural fertility, habitats 

 of endangered species ), and environmental pollution can degrade 

 the vitality of populations and ecosystems. To deal with the 

 potential effects of environmental change, an enhanced scientific 

 understanding of the key processes is needed. A major limitation 

 to achieving this understanding is the lack of historical 

 environmental observations and continuing scientific 

 measurements of these processes. 



In recognition of this need, in 1992 Vice President (then 

 Senator) Gore called for the creation of a panel of cleared 

 environmental scientists who would evaluate assets of the 

 national security community that could help resolve critical 

 environmental issues. In response to this request, an 

 Environmental Task Force (ETF) was established by the Director 

 of Central Intelligence (DCI) and endorsed and participated in 

 by the Departments of Defense (DoD), Commerce (DoC), 

 Interior (Dol), and Energy (DoE), and, as well as by NASA and 

 other agencies. 



Throughout 1993, the ETF scientists were bnefed on a wide 

 variety of classified systems and data/archives from many 

 segments of the national security community to allow tliem to 

 assess the applicability of these resources to environmental 

 concerns. A final report was then issued by the ETF containing 

 an assessment of the potential scientific utility of the classified 

 data should public release later become possible. The ETF also 

 dealt with other opportunities for gaining scientific payoff from 

 these data and capabilities, including introducing the conceptof 

 derived products (primarily graphical) in order to facilitate 

 declassification of limited specific information. 



The concept of global "fiducial" data collection by classified 

 sensor systems in support of scientific research and 

 environmental monitoring was also introduced. The regular 

 sampling of a preselected set of fiducial sites was seen as 

 complementary to data collected by civilian sensors and would 

 be a means of beginning a long-term archive of well-sampled 

 data on a set of scientifically significant sites. 



While the primary emphasis in the 1993 ETF final report 

 invol ved space based systems, including the National Technical 

 Means, some attention was also paid to a variety of Navy 

 systems and databases. This included brief mention of databases 

 such as high resolution bathymetry, submarine acoustic ice keel 

 drafts, and Geosat altimetry, as well as a substantial look at the 

 Integrated Undersea Surveillance Systems. However, 

 constraints of time and U.S. government priority prevented an 

 in-depth examination of the full range of oceanographic. polar 

 ice. and meteorological databases and capabilities which were 

 developed by the Navy during the decades of the cold war. 



