4 NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM LEGISLATION 



ganized in the Government, with research activities being conducted 

 by agencies whose specialized operational requirements require new 

 knowledge. In our view the proposed transfer would adversely affect 

 the accomplishment of operating missions by divorcing oceanographic 

 activities from programs which they are designed to support. 



A further difficulty is that the proposed agency would be authorized 

 to coordinate activities in those fields of science related to oceanog- 

 raphy, including meteorology. Such a step would upset existing 

 arrangements for coordination. For example, a Bureau of the Budget 

 circular assigns responsibility to the Department of Commerce for 

 facilitating coordination of Federal meteorological activities. This 

 assignment is consistent with the central role of the Weather Bureau 

 in providing meteorological services to the general public and to 

 many special users. The Department of Commerce has developed 

 the first annual plan for Federal meteorological activities and copies 

 have recently been provided to appropriations committees of the 

 Congress. 



Your committee is aware of the significant steps that have been 

 taken in recent years to strengthen overall coordination of oceano- 

 graphic activities at the Presidential level. A committee of the 

 Federal Council for Science and Technology has been developing 

 annual plans for the Government's oceanographic program for the 

 past several years. These plans, that are provided to agencies and to 

 committees of the Congress, have served to facilitate orderly growth 

 of this important field. The Office of Science and Technology, 

 created as a Presidential staff agency in 1962, has played a major 

 part in obtaining information and advice from foremost authorities in 

 oceanography, drawn from within and outside Government. Oceanog- 

 raphy is one of the fields of science subjected to special review by 

 the Bureau of the Budget, with the advice and assistance of the 

 Office of Science and Technology. 



The continuing top level attention being given the field of oceanog- 

 raphy demonstrates the advantages of the existing policy machinery. 

 While programs need to be conducted by agencies whose missions 

 requii'e special knowledge of the ocean environment, overall planning 

 and coordination is best exercised at the Presidential level. These 

 arrangements for policy planning and coordination must be fiexible 

 in order to adjust readily to the changing requirements of adynamic 

 technology. 



The present organization has fostered the growth of the Federal 

 oceanographic program from $35 million in fiscal year 1958 to an 

 estimated $135 million for fiscal year 1965. However, arrangements 

 at the Presidential level for overseeing this large program would be 

 further strengthened through the passage of H.R. 2218, a bill that 

 the Bureau of the Budget recommends for enactment in a separate 

 letter to your committee. 



Because the Bureau of the Budget regards the existing organization 

 of oceanographic activities as basically sound it is recommended that 

 H.R. 921 not be enacted. 

 Sincerely yours, 



Phillip S. Hughes, 

 Assistant Director for Legislative Reference. 



