NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM LEGISLATION 7 



Government, including personnel, property and funds. In addition 

 to the personnel initially transferred to it, other Government em- 

 ployees and members of the Armed Forces may be detailed for services 

 m the National Oceanographic Agency. There is a stipulation that 

 the President may determine that certain functions should not be 

 transferred under this act in the interests of national security. 



Oceanography, as with many other sciences, provides maximum 

 benefits to the Federal agencies when its results are applicable to spe- 

 cific problems within the Government. Many Federal agencies require 

 varied kinds of oceanographic information in order to do their jobs. 



In fact, this link to the missions of the agencies makes the oceano- 

 graphic program productive and viable. Most information is highly 

 specialized and obtained to assist in meeting existing or foreseeable 

 problems. Examples are the kind of information needed by the Navy 

 Department to hunt submarines, to be prepared to launch Polaris mis- 

 siles, conduct amphibious and submarine operations. Similarly, in 

 the Commerce Department, oceanoghaphic information is required for 

 chart making and assisting maritime trade, in the Department of the 

 Interior for exploiting the mineral and food resources of the ocean and 

 increasing U.S. efficiency in fishing both commercially and as a recrea- 

 tional asset through sport fisheries. The Public Health Service needs 

 oceanographic information as it afi^ects offshore pollution and the 

 Atomic Energy Commission as it affects disposal of atomic waste and 

 radioactivity in the oceans. If each of these users must go to a dif- 

 ferent agency to obtain oceanographic support, he will be less likely 

 to make the effort. It is believed that no central single oceanographic 

 office could ever adequately fill all these specialized requirements. 

 ^ There is a continuing need for national coordination and collabora- 

 tion on projects of mutual interest. Different agencies often need the 

 saane information, and only one agency then need obtain it. The infor- 

 mation collected by a single agency has to be avaiable to all agencies. 

 For example, the broad array of oceanographic activities of the Navy 

 is related to the mission of the Navy, but it should be, and is, available 

 to the civilian agencies. This coordination and collaboration is 

 achieved through the general supervision of the Interagency Com- 

 mittee on Oceanography. Chaired by the Assistant Secretary of the 

 Navy for Research and Development and including members from aU 

 major Federal agencies involved in marine sciences, this Committee 

 accomplishes a tremendous amount of good without direct adminis- 

 trative control. It is considered that a National Oceanographic 

 Agency, which would substitute centralized authority for voluntary 

 cooperation, would remove oceanography from the laboratories of the 

 usersand reduce its utilization. 



It is noted that section 7 of the proposed bill could be readily inter- 

 preted to exclude Navy oceanograpliic programs from the provisions 

 of the bill, although there is no assurance that this would in fact be 

 done. In spite of this, the Department of the Navy, on behalf of the 

 Department of Defense, is opposed to H.R. 921 for the above stated 

 reasons. 



_ This report has been coordinated within the Department of Defense 

 m accordance with procedures prescribed by the Secretary of Defense. 



