8 PROVIDE A COMPREHENSIVE PROGRAM IN OCEANOGRAPHY 



thorized to grant to participating governmental agencies from time 

 to time amounts determined by the Council to be necessary in the 

 conduct of oceanogTaphic research to aid in carrying out the national 

 program. 



The purpose of the revised draft was to provide for the creation of 

 a council with sufficient decisionmaking powers and authority; an 

 executive director to whom the Congress could look for regular peri- 

 odic reports on the status of the oceanographic program; a small but 

 adequate staff to assist the Council in programing activities; and an 

 appropriation of money which could be directed to any agency of the 

 Government to enhance the total annual program and alleviate the 

 inflexibility of the usual 3-year budget cycle. The proposed revision 

 conformed to the recommendations of the Committee on Oceanog- 

 raphy of the National Academy of Sciences^ — National Research Coun- 

 cil, as set forth in their letter to the chairman of the Subcommittee on 

 Oceanography on July 27, 1961. 



The departments and the Bm'eau of the Budget expressed their 

 objections to the revised draft of H.R. 4276 on grounds similar to 

 their objections to the original bill, i.e., the Interagency Committee 

 on Oceanography of the Federal Council for Science and Technology 

 was adequately performing, coordinating, and program-planning 

 functions. 



Objections were also directed to the provisions of the revised draft 

 which set up a special aquatic research fund and established an Office 

 of Oceanographer of the United States. The Bureau of the Budget 

 further noted that the revised bill made no mention of the relation- 

 ship of the proposed Council to the President, stating that it is the 

 President's ultimate responsibility to formulate national programs 

 for the executive branch and that "it is also important that clear 

 Presidential authority over the management of the executive branch 

 be assured." These objections have been met and overcome in the 

 bill hereby reported. 



Notwithstanding the objections noted above, it may be seen that 

 the views of your committee and those of the executive branch have 

 been in full accord as to objectives; have differed as to some details; 

 and have been apart solely on the question of whether the coordinating 

 mechanism for a national oceanographic program should operate 

 exclusively under Executive sanction or should have a legislative 

 base with responsibility to Congress, as well as to the President. 



Noting the continued departmental objections, your committee 

 sought resolution of the different viewpoints through the conduct of 

 hearings earh' this year (February 28, March 1 and 2, 1962), desig- 

 nated as a "Study of the Effectiveness of the Committee on Oceanog- 

 raphy of the Federal Council for Science and Technology." 



Your committee found that the ICO, under the very able chairman- 

 ship of Dr. James Wakelin, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for 

 Research, was doing a creditable job, with its subcommittees made up 

 of employees from the various affected agencies, though at a much 

 lower level representation of departments on the ICO than the 

 Cabinet-level membership of the proposed Council under the Miller 

 bill (H.R. 4276). However, its agency heads were under no obliga- 

 tion to, and did not, work in concert to the extent contemplated by 

 H.R. 4276. ^Moreover, there was no clear responsibility to the 

 Congress, either directly through the ICO, or indirectly, on a repre- 

 sentative basis, through the Federal Council of Science and Technology. 



