20 PROVIDE A COMPREHENSIVE PROGRAM IN OCEANOGRAPHY 



well organized and are capable of effectuating the basic purposes of 

 the bill; the Commission beheves they should not be replaced by the 

 CouncU and Center the bill would establish. 



In addition to the preceding general observations, the Commission 

 would like to make these specific remarks: The provision in section 

 2 of the bill that the members shall be the Secretaries of the named 

 departments, the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, and 

 the Director of the National Science Foundation seems to us to be 

 out of proportion to the fact that these oceanographic activities are, 

 though important, but a relatively small part of the respective pro- 

 grams of each of these agencies; also, we think the chairmanship 

 should rotate and that the Presidential appointment feature is un- 

 necessary. In regard to section 3, conduct of research is not, in our 

 opinion, an appropriate function of the Data Center. The inter- 

 agency Center will not conduct research. The function specified in 

 section 4, namely, the establishment of primary standards of oceano- 

 graphic measurements, is also unnecessary in our opinion because the 

 U.S. Bureau of Standards now develops satisfactory standards in this 

 area. Nor do we consider the separate Test and Calibration Center, 

 provided for in section 5, to be needed; the specified testing, calibra- 

 tion, and evaluation work should, in our view, be performed by the 

 National Bureau of Standards. 



The Bureau of the Budget has advised that there is no objection 

 to the presentation of this report^from the standpoint of the adminis- 

 tration's program. 



Sincerely 3^ours, 



(Signed) R. E. Hollingsworth, 



Deputy General Manager. 



Executive Office of the President, 



Bureau of the Budget, 

 Washington, B.C., May 9, 1961. 

 Hon. Herbert C. Bonner, 



Chairman, Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, 

 House of Representatives , Washington, D.C. 



My Dear Mr. Chairman: This is in reply to your letter of Febru- 

 ary 15, 1961, requesting the comments of this office with respect to 

 H.R. 4276, a bill to expand and develop the aquatic resources of the 

 United States including the oceans, estuaries, and rivers, the Great 

 Lakes and other inland waters, to enhance the general welfare, and 

 for other purposes. 



This bill would establish a National Oceanographic Council to 

 develop and coordinate a long-range program in oceanography. 

 Among its responsibilities the Council would establish a National 

 Oceanographic Data Center and a National Instrumentation Test 

 and Calibration Center. 



In his letter of March 29, 1961, to the Speaker of the House, the 

 President outlined a national program to strengthen oceanography 

 on a long-term basis. He announced that additional funds were 

 being requested for a number of agencies in 1962 to provide almost 

 a doubling of the current year's level of effort in oceanography. 



This national program was developed under the auspices of the 

 Interagency Committee on Oceanography of the Federal Council for 

 Science and Technology and through coordination of the plans and 



