NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM LEGISLATION 3 



it should be noted that the Federal Council for Science and Tech- 

 nology, created by Executive Order No. 10807 on March 13, 1959, 

 established a permanent Interagency Committee on Oceanography 

 by letter dated March 3, 1960, from Dr. George Kistiakowsky, Chair- 

 man of the FCST, to the Honorable James H. Wakelin, Jr., Assistant 

 Secretary of the Navy for Research and Development. The primary 

 function of the ICO is to coordinate the activities of various agencies 

 having an interest in oceanography in order to eliminate duplication 

 of effort and to provide a total program with appropriate objectives. 

 It is our understanding not only that the ICO's advisory functions 

 would be taken over by the National Oceanographic Agency but that 

 the proposed bill would interpose an independent agency between 

 the President and the executive agencies in the direct chain of line 

 authority. Oceanography is of prime programmatic interest to the 

 Commission. We believe that staff assistance rendered by the 

 Interagency Committee on Oceanography has been valuable in 

 coordinating efforts by the various agencies in the oceanography 

 field. By the same token, however, the Commission believes that it 

 would be detrimental to its mission if overall directive authority for 

 oceanographic activities was invested in one agency. 



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

 to the presentation of this report from the standpoint of the ad- 

 ministration's program. 

 Sincerely yours, 



R. E. HOLLINGSWORTH, 



General Manager. 



Executive Office of the President, 



Bureau of the Budget, 

 Washington, B.C., March 11, 1965. 

 Hon. Herbert C. Bonner, 



Chairman, Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries ^ 

 House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 



Dear Mr. Chairman: This is in reply to your letter of January 

 22, 1965, requesting the views of the Bureau of the Budget on H.R. 

 921, a bill to establish the National Oceanographic Agency. 



The bill would establish an agency to which would be transferred 

 ail functions relating to oceanography and related sciences that are 

 now vested in various Federal agencies, except those excluded by the 

 President for reasons of national security. The agency would be 

 headed by an Administrator appointed by the President, with the 

 adA'ice and consent of the Senate. The new agency would establish 

 a coordinated national program for oceanography and related 

 sciences. 



Under current organizational arrangements, oceanographic activ- 

 ities are being conducted by a number of agencies in support of their 

 basic missions. For example, the Department of the Interior sup- 

 ports oceanographic activities related to its fisheries programs. The 

 Department oi Commerce conducts oceanographic activities support- 

 ing the navigation and charting responsibilities of the Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey. The Department of the Navy conducts oceano- 

 graphic activities related to antisubmarine warfare and other defense 

 missions. This is the traditional way in which science has been or- 



