NATIONAL OCEAN'OGRAPHIC PROGRAM LEGISLATION 333 



The President is only authorized there. What would you say if 

 there was a directive in the language of that legislation ? 



Dr. Morse. I would liesitate to comment on that language. 



Mr. Lennon. Every one of the other bills provides for a national 

 council and several of them, Senate bill 944, which has already been 

 passed by the Senate, they adopted an amendment in committee pro- 

 viding for a national advisory commission, they did not authorize, it 

 was a directive, and I am wondering what would be the reaction, I 

 would like you to talk to Dr. Hornig about this, we did not have time 

 this morning, I promised him he could get away by 10 :30, that why 

 should not the President appoint ? 



Dr. Morse. I can tell you what my recommendation would be now, 

 this is not 



Mr. Lennon. I want it coming from you and I want it coming from 

 Dr. Hornig, from the Federal Council under the President, but I want 

 to know the reason why the President should not appoint a national 

 commission, representative of the university level, the competence 

 in oceanography and industry of, say, 15, not just 7, but 15. 



If you had 7 you would have 4 attending at meeting, so if you have 

 15 you would get 8 or 9, even if it is $100 per diem. So I want the 

 thinking, sir, on that. 



Dr. Morse. Mr. Lennon, my concept of the organization is that the 

 President should establish this Commission on Marine Sciences to be 

 composed of 15 members appointed by himself and including individ- 

 uals drawn from industry, universities, and private institutions en- 

 gaged in marine science and technology. 



Mr. Lennon, I think you must recognize, I believe, the Congress 

 is going to pass something this year. I regret that the bill 2218 was 

 not passed 2 years ago so we would now be in a position to see what, 

 if anything, it had accomplished; a lot of people say it would not 

 accomplish anything, I do not know. 



But we do not want to have the experience we had before. 



You said you would be glad to comment on it as an individual. 



Dr. Morse. Let me suggest this, that I raise this point that you have 

 raised with Dr. Hornig and will submit to you separately a com- 

 ment on that point. 



Mr. Lennon. You are in complete accord with the objectives of the 

 bills stated in the past. 



Thank you, Doctor. 



(The following letter was subsequently received for inclusion in the 

 record:) 



August 23, 1965. 

 Hon. Alton Lennon, 



Chairman, Subcommittee on Oceanography, Committee on Merchant Marine and 

 Fisheries, House of Representatives, Washington, B.C. 

 My Deae Mr. Chaisman : As I testified before your subcommittee, a charac- 

 teristic common to almost all the existing bills is their provision for an analyti- 

 cal staff competent to examine oceanographic issues within economic, political, 

 administrative, and technological frameworks. These bills also provide for funds 

 to administer this staff and the organizational needs of an ICO type of operation 

 generally. Thus far the problem of interagency funding has been vexing. Navy 

 underwrites most of the ICO staff needs, via the OflSce of Naval Research. At 

 the present time, four agencies contribute to staff salaries and eight print our 

 publications. The funds proposed by these bills, although modest, would be most 

 welcome since they would fill an obvious void. I suggested that modification 



