PROVIDE A COMPREHENSIVE PROGRAM IN OCEANOGRAPHY 19 



total cost of the project or undertaking in connection with which such 

 assistance is given or used, and the amount and nature of that portion 

 of the cost of the project or undertaking supphed by other resources, 

 and such other records as will facilitate an effective audit. 



"(b) The Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and the Comp- 

 troller General of the United States, or any of theu^ duly authorized 

 representatives, shall have access for the purpose of audit and exami- 

 nation to any books, documents, papers, and records of the recipient 

 that are pertinent to assistance received under section 9(a)(3) of this 

 Act." 



In administering the above provision we do not contemplate making 

 a detailed examination of the books and records of every recipient of 

 a grant, or even a major part of them. However, selective checks may 

 be made to provide reasonable assurance that grant funds are being 

 properly applied or expended. 

 Sincerely yoiu-s, 



Joseph Campbell, 

 Comptroller General of the United States. 



U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, 



June 6, 1961. 

 Hon. Herbert C. Bonner, 



Chairman, Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, 

 House of Representatives. 



Dear Mr. Bonner: The Atomic Energy Commission is pleased to 

 have this opportunity to comment on H.R. 4276, a biU to expand 

 and develop the aquatic resources of the United States. 



The Commission does not believe that the establishment by this bill 

 of the National Oceanographic Council and Data Center is needed. 

 Some months ago the Departments of the Navy, Commerce, and 

 Interior, the National Science Foundation, and the Atomic Energy 

 Commission, entered into an interagency agreement providing for the 

 establishment of a National Oceanographic Data Center, to be located 

 within the U.S. Navy Hydrographic Office, and the creation of a 

 National Oceanographic Data Center Advisory Board. The Advisory 

 Board consists of one member from each of the following agencies: 

 Navy Hydrographic Office, Coast and Geodetic Smwey, Bureau of 

 Commercial Fisheries, National Science Foundation, Weather Bureau, 

 Office of Naval Research, and the Atomic Energy Commission. The 

 agreement states that the National Academy of Sciences will be 

 invited to name two nonvoting members to sit in with the Advisory 

 Board. This interagency Data Center will, pursuant to the agree- 

 ment, (a) receive, compile, process, and preserve oceanographic data 

 submitted to it, (6) acquire ocenographic data from domestic and 

 foreign sources, (c) establish procedm^es for assuring that the accuracy 

 and qualitj^ of the data in its repository meets the criteria established 

 by the Advisory Board, (d) prepare data summaries and tabulations, 

 indexes, and other information, and (e) perform certain other useful 

 functions in regard to oceanographic data. The Center's activities 

 will not duplicate those of the Weather Bureau, Coast and Geodetic 

 Survey, Smithsonian Institution, or other agencies. In the Com- 

 mission's opinion, the Data Center and the companion Advisory 

 Board recently inaugurated under the interagency agreement are 



