23 
ness of the United States to participate fully in whatever studies are 
necessary in determining the future legal regime of the deep ocean 
floor. 
STATUS OF A UNITED NATIONS RESOLUTION 
I believe it will be of interest to the committee, Mr. Chairman, to 
know that some 47 countries have already spoken in the debate on 
the subject in the Political Committee of the General Assembly. An 
informal working group is now engaged in an effort to arrive at a 
broadly acceptable resolution. I would estimate that this working 
group would reach its conclusions within the next few days. 
I cannot foresee precisely what action it will recommend, but I 
can say that on the basis of the information we now have, and on the 
basis of the detailed conversations which Ambassador Goldberg and 
his staff have pursued, that it is probable that a committee will be es- 
tablished—with an initial life of one year—to carry out on behalf of 
the General Assembly a review of some of the issues involved. We, of 
course, would expect to participate fully and actively in such a com- 
mittee, together with a representative selection of other countries 
drawn from all regions and including States with important maritime 
interests. 
In our consultations with the Members of Congress, we in the execu- 
tive branch have stressed the complexity of the problems confronting 
us and the time it will take to reach satisfactory solutions of these 
problems. We have made it clear that we are only at the beginning of 
what will certainly be a lengthy process of national and international 
deliberation. 
In such a situation we see great advantages in keeping open every 
desirable option. We are, moreover, fully sensitive to the rights, claims, 
and interests of American citizens and American enterprises 1n varl- 
ous aspects of maritime, fisheries, and other marine activities, and of 
course we are always guided in the first instance by national security 
considerations. 
STATE DEPARTMENT ATTITUDE TOWARD PENDING RESOLUTIONS 
In these circumstances, Mr. Chairman, we do not believe it would be 
desirable or helpful for the Congress at this time to go on record with 
any of the resolutions introduced in the two chambers. With specific 
reference to the two resolutions before the Senate, I believe that the 
proposal presented by Senator Cotton, stressing the importance of cau- 
tion, has already been reflected in the position we have taken at the 
General Assembly. I do not believe that the General Assembly will be 
taking the kind of action against which Senator Cotton’s resolution 
was designed to guard. I would therefore suggest that no action need 
be taken on this proposal. 
Senator Pell has introduced two resolutions. His views are most use- 
ful and most timely, and they will be taken fully into account by the 
executive branch. The first resolution would express the sense of the 
Senate on six broad propositions concerning the use of ocean resources, 
conservation, freedom of exploration, arms control, the limits of the 
continental shelf, and criminal jurisdiction. Senator Pell’s second 
resolution expands on these propositions and sets out in great detail 
