45 



Then you can determine, as other studies may come in, what you 

 want to do. Another thing you might be interested in is the fact that 

 we set up a commission to go into the study of this entire problem of 

 oceanography and to set our Nation's goals, where we should go. 

 This would be very significant, I think, too, when this commission's 

 report comes out. We anticipate probably in a year or a year and a 

 half. 



That may well have some significance on the position our Nation 

 wUl want to take after our own people have studied this. We are in 

 the process now of just saying or seeing how far we want to go in 

 this Nation. 



Mr. Fascell. Mr. Frelinghuysen. 



Mr. Frelinghuysen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I must say I 

 am somewhat disturbed by some of your statements, Mr. Rogers. 



To begin with, your suggestion that the Russians might be able to 

 control the weather and that we ought to catch up with them strikes 

 me as an unhappy development, to say tne least, unless our catching 

 up would mean that we could keep them from controlling the weather. 



If, for example, the Russians could throw a hurricane at the coast of 

 Florida and we could retaliate by throwing some bad weather over 

 Moscow, it seems to me we are not moving in a profitable du-ection. 



Mr. Rogers. I would think this: I hope the gentleman is disturbed 

 about this because it is a very real danger. Of course, what we want to 

 do is to have the technique to dissipate such a hmTicane. As you 

 know, very significant work is going on in this area to be able to 

 dissipate iiurricanes and properly forecast when something may 

 hapjjen that we coidd deal with in areas where people would be at 

 least prepared for it. 



Right now they are doing great work in trying to seed hurricanes. 

 This offers a great deal of hope, not only for control, but for the con- 

 trol of tornadoes as well. So we must do some work along these lines. 

 It is not impossible that this could eventually happen. 



Mr. Frelinghuysen. If we are talking about Soviet-inspired or 

 developed hurricanes, I should think the best defense woidd be a 

 strong offense. Alaybe we should not only worry about dissipating 

 then" hurricanes, but we should develop some of our own that they 

 will have difficulty dissipating. 



Mr. Rogers. I think any knowledge on the control of the weather 

 might lead you to that conclusion, knowing how to form something as 

 well as how to dissipate. How to form rain, for instance. This will be 

 very significant, not just in dealing with another nation perhaps, but 

 for our own farmers, if we coidd bring rain at proper times. This is not 

 beyond possibility. I think it will not be too long before we will be 

 able to do something in this area. But we cannot just sit aside and say 

 "We hope the United Nations is going to handle it all" and forget it. 

 It just cannot be done that way. 



We have to have a capabihty to meet whatever Russia may do 

 because I can assure you they are moving ahead in this area. 



Mr. Frelinghuysen. I do not assume that anybody is suggesting 

 that we give up our capabihty to do things and hand them over to the 

 United Nations. 



Mr. Rogers. Right. 



