145 

 29 November 1995 



National Security Subcommittee on Military Research and 



Development 



and 



Resources Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans 



House of Representatives 



Congress of the United States 



Witness Statement by Prof. .Tohn M. Edmond. Professor of 

 Marine Geochemistry, MIT, for joint hearing, 6 December 1995 



At the outset let me express my gratitude at being invited to 

 testify before these two House Subcommittees today. As a 

 foreign-born scientist who, over the last thirty years, has 

 pursued a successful research career in the United States funded 

 very largely by this Government through the National Science 

 Foundation and the Office of Naval Research, I feel a strong 

 obligation to be of service. It is also gratifying to be asked to 

 help present the results of the enormous national investment 

 made by this Government in oceanographic research over the 

 last fifty years in support of your deliberations on a pressing 

 societal problem, the disposal of waste streams. 



Post-WWII, oceanography developed as a quintessential Cold 

 War science. The fundamental driver was anti-submarine 

 warfare. Of course, numerous spin-offs occurred in particular 

 the thriving off-shore oil industry. Over the last decade or so 

 oceanographic studies have become central to our understanding 

 of the complexities of our environment and its response to 

 natural and, increasingly, human perturbations. It must be 

 recognized that this new orientation would have been impossible 

 without the massive military-related investments mentioned 

 above. Your Subcommittees have the opportunity to apply the 

 insights, understanding and experience of the oceanographic 

 sciences and engineering to the resolution of an increasingly 

 critical problem in our society, and the world, the safe and 



