32 NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM LEGISLATION 



The recommendation that legislative action should be deferred is 

 not intended to cast any doubt on the importance of the subject. 

 President Johnson has recently stated his intention that the United 

 States shall maintain leadership in ocean science and technology and 

 their economic, military, and social applications. 



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

 the presentation of this report from the standpoint of the administra- 

 tion's program. 



Sincerely yours, 



Clarence F. Pautzke, 

 Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior. 



National Academy of Sciences, 



Washington, D.C., April 23, 1965. 

 Hon. Herbert C. Bonner, 



Chairman, Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, 

 House oj Representatives, Washington, D.C. 



Dear Congressman Bonner: Over the last 3 months you have 

 been kind enough to refer to us for our information, and such comment 

 as we might wish to make, several bills having to do with the Federal 

 Government's arrangements for developing, coordinating, and funding 

 the national oceanographic program. 



Our Committee on Oceanography has welcomed the opportunity 

 to review these bills. The Committee has long recognized the need 

 for a more unified approach to the oceanography program among the 

 Federal agencies. The Committee considers such an approach to be 

 especially desirable with reference to those elements of the program 

 that involve the missions of several different agencies, for example, the 

 study of air-sea interactions, the development and use of deep-diving 

 vehicles and other means of deep-sea investigation, and the study of 

 ocean resources. 



While the Committee does not have an adequate basis for recom- 

 mending a particular mechanism for achieving the desired unity of 

 approach, its members feel that efforts at the appropriate level of the 

 executive branch, for example, the Office of Science and Technology, 

 in consultation with the congressional committees concerned, can 

 undoubtedly result in an effective solution of the problem. 

 Yours sincerely, 



Frederick Seitz, President. 



National Science Foundation, 



Office of the Director, 

 Washington, D.C, July 28, 1965. 

 Hon. Herbert C. Bonner, 



Chairman, Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, 

 House oj Representatives, Washington, D.C 



Dear Mr. Chairman: This is in further reply to your request for 

 the views of the National Science Foundation on H.R. 5654, a bUl to 

 provide for expanded research in the oceans and the Great Lakes, 

 to establish a National Oceanographic Council, and for other 

 purposes. 



