60 MARINE SCIENCES AND RESEARCH ACT 
the basis of a transfer of funds from the agency concerned or (3) finance 
and undertake research and development for oceanographic ships of 
unusual or novel design on request of user agencies. Such an approach, 
we believe, would provide greater flexibility and yet permit utilization 
of the valuable services of the Maritime Administration in connection 
with the ship construction. 
Section 9 of the bill would authorize the Secretary of Health, 
Education, and Welfare, through the Office of Education, to provide 
assistance, in the form of teachers’ salaries and equipment, designed 
to obtain new faculty in oceanography and the marine sciences. 
Title IV of the National Defense Education Act authorizes the provi- 
sion of funds by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare 
which may be used by colleges and universities for faculty and equip- 
ment related to new or expanded fellowship programs undertaken 
by such institutions. It would appear that the combined authority 
existing in the National Science Foundation Act of 1950 and in title IV 
of the National Defense Education Act is fully adequate for the 
undertaking by executive agencies of providing all of the forms of 
support contemplated by section 9 of the bill. 
With respect to section 11 of the bill, authorizing the Atomic Energy 
Commission to conduct an intensive 10-year program of control and 
monitoring of radioactive waste disposal and studies relating to the 
effects of radioactivity on the marine environment, we understand 
that the Commission is presently engaged in activities in this area. 
In addition, we would like to point out that, on August 14, 1959, 
President Eisenhower issued Executive Order 10831, establishing 
the Federal Radiation Council to advise him with respect to radiation 
standards and the provision of guidance to executive agencies for their 
use in developing operating rules and regulations for radiological 
health protection. This Council was given a statutory base by Public 
Law 86-373, approved September 23, 1959. It appears, therefore, 
that enactment of section 11 of the bill may be unnecessary. 
Finally section 13(f) of S. 2692 would authorize and direct the 
Secretary of the Navy to establish, with the National Science Founda- 
tion, or the National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council, 
a program of scholarships beginning at the senior level in undergradu- 
ate school and carrying through 4 years of graduate training and 
research in the marine sciences. Earlier in this letter we discussed the 
matter of providing special fellowships in the field of oceanography. 
With respect to undergraduate scholarships, it is our view that well 
qualified students in the various scientific fields are able to obtain 
financial assistance as needed and desired. We find substantial 
evidence that, with the scholarships presently available, students in 
at least the upper 10 percent of the classes graduating from the second- 
ary schools, and planning to pursue studies in science, engineering, 
and mathematics, are generally able to obtain scholarship assistance 
if needed. Other financial assistance such as loans, is also available 
to them and to others with not so high an academic standing. Further- 
more, it is our general view with respect to scholarship legislation, that, 
while science and engineering are exerting an increasing influence on 
our national life, a share of the highly talented youth should be avail- 
able to other fields of endeavor. Therefore, if undergraduate scholar- 
ship legislation were enacted we firmly believe that such a program 
should not be limited to a particular field of science or even to science 
and engineering generally. 
