150 NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM LEGISLATION 



(3) Designate and fix responsibility for the direction of major oceano- 

 grapiiic and marine science activities, including, but not limited to, explora- 

 tion, exploitation, and conservation of marine resources, oceanographic 

 engineering, studies of air-sea interaction, transmission of energy, and 

 communications ; 



(4) Provide for effective cooperation among all departments and agencies 

 of the United States engaged in oceanographic and marine science activities, 

 and specify, in any case in which primary responsibility for any category of 

 the oceanographic and marine science activities has been assigned to any 

 department or agency, which of those activities may be carried on concur- 

 rently by other departments or agencies ; 



(5) Resolve differences arising among departments and agencies of the 

 United States with respect to oceanographic and marine science activities 

 under this act, including differences as to whether a particular project is an 

 oceanographic and marine science activity ; and 



(6) Review annually all existing oceanographic and marine sciences activ- 

 ities conducted by departments and agencies of the United States in light of 

 the policies, plans, programs, and priorities developed pursuant to this act. 



In my view, this Council would thus bring together wisdom and experience as 

 well as reflection of agency piews that would foster the needed policy in program 

 planning and coordination not only from the point of view of science but from the 

 point of view of technology and such considerations as economic development 

 and foreign affairs. 



Establishment of this Council thus takes note of the fact that niunerous 

 Federal departments and independent agencies have statutory missions which 

 directly or indirectly deal with the oceans. These responsibilities relate to our 

 national security, to development of our national resources, to public health and 

 safety and to recreation. Each of these activities in the ocean is thus related to 

 the broader mission of the parent agency. Because of the different public pur- 

 poses for which these agencies were established it does not seem possible to me to 

 excise the oceanographic component and consolidate these functions in one new 

 superagency. Nevertheless, to make sure that all of the agencies contribute to 

 a common base of scientific data and survey, and make use of a common base, to 

 be sure that goals are consistent, that there not be unnecessary duplication of 

 ships or shore facilities, that there be a common concern for manpower training 

 and utilization, that there be uniform policies in the development of Federal 

 relations with State and private interests — for these reasons it is essential that 

 there be a policy coordinating body that could deal with common problems anfi 

 common goals. 



Section 301 would also provide for a full-time staff through a civilian Executive 

 Secretary appointed by the President with advice and consent of the Senate. 

 Such full-time staff is essential to this program and it is important both for the 

 President and for the Congress that there be someone of policy rank working with 

 the Vice President to provide the necessary staff back-up operations of the Council 

 and continuity for day-to-day communications with the constituent agencies. 



We have precedent for this type of mechanism. Title II of the National 

 Aeronautics and Space Act of 19,58 established a National Aeronautics and Space 

 Council with very similar functions. As amended in 1961, it provides for the 

 Vice President as Chairman. That Council performs all of the functions out- 

 lined above and, in addition, participates in budget analyses prior to their formal 

 presentations to the President ; supplies the Congress with competent and 

 objective information about the program under its surveillance. I visualize the 

 National Oceanographic Coimcil having a similar function. 



I need not remind this committee that H.R. 4276, introduced by Congressman 

 George P. Miller early in the 87th Congress, would have created a somewhat 

 similar National Oceanographic Council to the one I propose. Your hearings 

 that year provided testimony in support of this concept that is still relevant 

 today. 



In closing, Mr. Chairman, I speak as one concerned about our neglect of the 

 potential of the oceans for our national welfare. 



When he transmitted budget proposals for this year's oceanographic program, 

 President Johnson in a letter to the Speaker of the House said : 



"* * * now our view of the seas has had to undergo a drastic change. We 

 have always considered them as barriers to navigation ; we now must see them as 

 links not only between peoples but to a vast new untapped resource * * *". It 

 is essential that the Congress review this program as a unified thrust seaward. 



