SEA GRANT COLLEGES 187 



Senator Pell. This, of course, is not done with other programs ad- 

 ministered, if my recollection is correct, by the National Science 

 Fomidation in similar programs, is that correct ? 



Captain Sntder. That is correct, sir. However, there is no prohibi- 

 tion against this. 



Senator Pell. Nor is it a custom in the administration of land- 

 grant colleges. 



Captain Snyder. That is correct. 



Senator Pell. In other words, this would be a new concept. 



Captain Sntder. Yes, sir. 



Senator Pell. This one might find difficulty in being worked out. 



Now, with regard to the administering agency, the thought has 

 gone through my mind as we have discussed, speaking privately, 

 that since the purpose of the bill is more to develop grant assistance 

 to programs and, also, the purpose of the bill is the actual exploitation 

 of the knowledge we already have, not the development of further 

 basic research, that it might be best to put it in some temporary 

 agency. The idea being that it will be spun off eventually to the agency 

 that is set up as a result of the bill presently being discussed in the 

 Congress to administer oceanological studies or oceanological work. 



My main thought was that the Smithsonian Institution might be 

 a good agency to take it on a more or le?s temporary basis, since I feel 

 that if it went to the National Science Foundation, there would be too 

 much emphasis on pure science, and also that the grant aid would 

 generally be to individual projects and not on an institutional basis. 



What is your thinking on that ? 



Captain Sntder. I would like to speak for what I believe to be 

 Dr. Morse's thoughts on this matter. 



No. 1, all of the agencies in the Federal Government who could 

 administer this bill were considered. Each one was looked at with 

 the objective which I believe is the objective of your bill, and that 

 is to deal more in the applied areas, more in the actual exploitation 

 as opposed to the basic research. It is true that the National Science 

 Foundation is oriented toward basic research and that is its principal 

 responsibility. However, I believe that the statement made by Dr. 

 Morse is very explicit on that point and that is, in order to assure 

 the kind of objectives that he feels you are discussing, that at a mini- 

 mum, the Navy Department, Interior Department, and the Com- 

 merce Department should play a key role. 



He feels this can be accomplished through the mechanism which 

 already exists in the executive branch, namely, the Interagency Com- 

 mittee on Oceanography. I think most people on the ICO feel very 

 strongly that it is a worthwhile bill. Therefore, there should not be 

 any sort of temporary home, that it should have a permanent home, 

 because if people really are convinced it is temporary, they won't 

 get, necessarily, the best kind of people to administer the program. 



Senator Pell. What about the Smithsonian as a permanent home? 



Captain Sni-der. Actually, and particularly after liaving read Mr. 

 Caller's statement yesterday, the Smithsonian seems to be only inter- 

 ested in basic research and pure science. 



Senator Pell. My recollection of Mr. Caller's statement was that 

 they fully understood, though, that this bill was for the practical ex- 

 ploitation of scientific knowledge already available. Maybe this came 



62-996—00 1?, 



