B NATIONAL OCEANOGEAPHIC PROGRAM LEGISLATION 



The Bureau of the Budget advises that, from the standpoint of the 

 administration's program, there is no objection to the presentation of 

 this report for the consideration of the committee. 

 Sincerely yours, 



M. K. Disney, 

 Captain^ U.S. Navy, 

 Director ^Legislative Division 

 (For the Secretary of theNavy) . 



Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, 



Washington, D.C.^ August ^, 1965. 

 Hon. Herbert C. Bonner, 



Chairman^ Com.mittee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, House of 

 Representatives, Washington, D.C. 



Dear Mr. Chairman : This letter is in response to your request of 

 January 22, 1965, for a report on H.K. 921, a bill to establish the 

 National Oceanographic Agency. 



The bill would establish an independent agency to coordinate a 

 national program for oceanography and related sciences ; establish an 

 Administrator for the National Oceanographic Agency ; transfer to 

 this Agency all functions relating to oceanography and related sci- 

 ences which are now vested in any officer, employee, department, 

 agency, and instrumentality of the tlnited States; transfer existing 

 regulations to this Agency until such time as they are modified, 

 amended, superseded, or revoked by the Administrator ; establish with- 

 in the Agency offices and procedures to provide coordination of ac- 

 tivities with other private and public organizations; and authorize 

 with the approval of the President, entrance into cooperative agree- 

 ments with other agencies for services in the performance of functions 

 under the act. 



H.R. 921 would transfer to the proj^osed new Agency all functions 

 relating to oceanography and related sciences now vested in any de- 

 partment or agency of the United States. We believe this would 

 be unwise. Our activities in oceanography, like those of other agen- 

 cies, are not an end in themselves but are related to the missions of 

 Department programs which carry on those activities. The transfer 

 of our oceanographic activities would work to the detriment of those 

 programs. The Interagency Committee on Oceanography, on which 

 this Department is represented, provides a workable mechanism for 

 the coordination of our activities in the field with those of other agen- 

 cies. The Committee prepares each year a coordinated, compre- 

 hensive plan for the achievement of national goals in oceanography. 

 Through the budgetary process, the appropriate roles and respon- 

 sibilities of the participating agencies are specifically defined. 



With respect to the organizational setting of the oceanographic pro- 

 gram, we refer the provisions of H.R. 2218. That bill would vest in 

 the President the responsibility for issuing a statement of national 

 goals with respect to oceanography, for developing a comprehen- 

 sive program of oceanographic activities for fixing the respon- 

 sibility for the direction of such activities, for reporting annually 

 to the Congress on stated aspects of the program, and for appointing 



