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tem (as well as certain aspects of the 

 systems for monitoring the solid earth) 

 to provide a single comprehensive system 

 designated as the National Environ- 

 mental Monitoring and Prediction System 

 (NEMPS). 



Activities in NEMPS serving civil inter- 

 ests should be consolidated in the Na- 

 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency 

 (ESSA); specialized activities in support 

 of military operations should be retained 

 in the Department of Defense. NEMPS 

 should be closely coordinated with the sys- 

 tems of the Department of Defense. The 

 civil and military monitoring and predic- 

 tion activities should develop along the 

 following guidelines: 



• A common, shared data acquisition net- 

 work 



• A common, shared communications net- 

 work, except where national security 

 requires separate systems 



• Independent but parallel data process- 

 ing and forecasting facilities 



• Independent, specialized data and fore- 

 cast dissemination subsystems 



The National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

 Agency (ESSA) should take responsi- 

 bility for overall systems analysis and 

 planning for NEMPS, with the assistance 

 of other agencies as appropriate. 



Thus, the Commission has concluded that 

 it is not practical to achieve total consolida- 

 tion of environmental prediction either in 

 NOAA or the Department of Defense. The 

 former alternative would ignore both vital 

 defense interests and the substantial econo- 

 mies possible througli using in-place military 

 facilities. The latter would either weaken 

 support of military missions or result in 

 inadequate attention to civil needs. 



A division of operational responsibilities 



with NEMPS operation and management 

 vested in NOAA is necessary. Thus, delinea- 

 tion of the basic data collection network to 

 satisfy civil needs would be the new civil 

 agency's responsibility. Both the new agency 

 and the military services would contribute to 

 tlie total data net. The responsibility for de- 

 lineation of military data needs, apart from 

 those required for civil needs, would rest 

 with the Department of Defense. A single 

 civil communications system would be estab- 

 lished for the collection and transmission of 

 data by the civil agency, but for purposes of 

 decreasing vulnerability and military secu- 

 rity, portions of the network would be 

 paralleled by the Department of Defense. 



It is essential that the National Oceanic 

 and Atmospheric Agency and the Depart- 

 ment of Defense maintain their separate fa- 

 cilities for processing data and issuing 

 forecasts to users. The necessity of providing 

 the military with capabilities to respond im- 

 mediately to threats is important. Moreover, 

 military and civil services must tailor their 

 forecasts to particular classes of users. 



The civil agency would provide broad 

 forecasts for the general public, broad seg- 

 ments of the economy, and other Federal 

 agencies. If these forecasts must be refined 

 to meet the needs of special industrial inter- 

 ests, the refinement would be the responsibil- 

 ity of the private sector, and agencies with 

 special needs would act to refine the forecasts 

 as necessary. 



The military will prepare forecasts to meet 

 all national security requirements. Sharing 

 of data and products is imperative and pos- 

 sible through high-speed electronic com- 

 puters and associated equipment. In order for 

 major environmental data processing centers 

 to operate in parallel, the data processing and 

 transmission equipment should be made 

 compatible. 



We propose that the management princi- 



