4 PROVIDE A COMPREHENSIVE PROGRAM IN OCEANOGRAPHY 



as the "Bell Report"), submitted by the Dhector of the Bureau of the 

 Budget in cooperation with tlie Secretary of Defense, Chairman of 

 the Atomic Energy Commission, Administrator of the National Aero- 

 nautics and Space Administration, Director of the National Science 

 Foundation, Chairman of the Civil Service Conmiission, and the 

 Special Assistant to the President for Science and Technology is highly 

 pertinent. Among its conclusions the report states as follows: 



The basic purposes to be served by Federal research and 

 development programs are public purposes, considered by 

 the President and the Congress to be of sufficient national 

 importance to warrant the expenditure of public funds. The 

 management and control of such programs must be firml}^ in 

 the hands of full-time Government officials clearly responsible 

 to the President and the Congress. 



Your committee believes that placing the responsibility for estab- 

 lisliing a national oceanographic program, defining its scope and co- 

 ordinating its activities within the new Office of Science and Technol- 

 ogy is in full accord with the sound conclusions expressed in the 

 above-mentioned report. 



Section 4 provides for the establishment in the Office of Science and 

 Technology of the position of Assistant Director for Oceanography, 

 who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and 

 consent of the Senate, and who shall receive compensation at the rate 

 of $19,000 per annum. The Assistant Director shall perform such 

 duties and exercise such powers as the Director of the Office shall pre- 

 scribe. 



Your committee views this section as most important. 



It is recognized that the new Office of Science and Technology, under 

 Reorganization Plan No. 2, is a statutory successor to the former 

 Executive order-created Federal Council for Science and Technology, 

 made up of a number of committees, including the Interagency Com- 

 mittee on Oceanography. 



Just as the Federal Council was a broad gaged and flexible agency 

 in its treatment of scientific subjects and related programs, the new 

 Office should likewise be. 



Consideration has been given to whether or not it is desirable to 

 provide for an Assistant Director for Oceanography, in view of the 

 other many and varied activities coming under the Office. We believe 

 the advantages vastly outweigh the disadvantages. 



The scope of scientific effort embraced by the former Federal Coun- 

 cil for Science and Technolog)^, and now by its successor, the Office 

 of Science and Technology, is such that no simple standards of super- 

 vision can be established which would be applicable equally to the 

 various constituent suborganizations. On the other hand, the record, 

 in Congress and in the executive branch, in the past several years has 

 sho\vn that oceanography is a subject of prime national importance. 

 In view of the size and complexity of a coordinated national oceano- 

 graphic program it is essential that the Director have the services of 

 a competent, full-time assistant. 



Section 5 authorizes the Director of the Office of Science and Tech- 

 nology to appoint a seven-member Advisory Committee for Oceanog- 

 raphy, who shall meet at the call of the Director for the purpose of 

 reviewing the national program and make recommendations with 

 respect thereto. 



