25 
process, and from it came the Antarctic Treaty. It was the Outer 
Space Treaty, of course, that largely originated in the U.N. 
Senator Sparkman. Yes. It took some little time to negotiate the 
Antarctic Treaty, as I recall. 
Mr. Sisco. The Antarctic Treaty, I think, took several years from 
the beginning of the discussions before it was actually concluded. 
Senator SpaRKMAN. It seems to me there is a great deal of similarity 
between the conditions existing in the Antarctic and in the field 
of oceanography. 
Mr. Sisco. Yes; I think, in general, that is true. I think that one 
basic difference is the immediate accessibility of the oceans, particu- 
larly, as it relates to the resources which may or may not be there. I 
think this is a point, for example, that Senator Cotton made just a 
moment ago in his own statement. 
Senator Sparkman. Senator Pell. 
Senator Pez. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 
I was very interested in your statement, and thank you for it, Mr. 
Secretary. A couple of points come to my mind. 
EBB AND FLOW OF POWERS OF COUNTRIES 
You cite the various requirements for legal order in the oceans. There 
is one requirement there, it seems to me, that is omitted. You say here 
that our objective of the legal regime is that it will encourage de- 
velopment and use of the ocean floor, avoid dangerous conflicts among 
the nations exploiting resources, all of which would make it broadly 
acceptable to the nations of the world. 
T think there is a further factor or dimension here that has not been 
included, and that is a system that would provide for change, because 
history has shown that countries have an ebb and flow in their own 
ower. 
: We have seen the terrible wars that have ensued with the dissolu- 
tion of the empires, such as the Ottoman Empire, the Hapsburg Em- 
pire, before that the Roman Empire. 
The American empire, the Soviet Empire, and the other great 
nations of today may not be permanent. You may have other nations 
coming along, and whatever system there is, it would seem to me, 
should provide for this ebb and flow. This is why I wanted to direct 
your attention specifically to the concept that I am trying to introduce 
of a licensing arrangement, whereby it would be on a 10-year, 20-year, 
30-year renewal period, which might provide for this ebb and flow. 
I was wondering if you had thought about that, or if you or Mr. 
Meeker had any views on this subject. 
FLEXIBLE LEGAL PRINCIPLES 
Mr. Sisco. First of all, in general, I would certainly agree with 
what you said, because, obviously, any regime that is established in 
the future will have to take into account not only the primitive state of 
our knowledge, but the very fact that there will be changes as our 
knowledge increases. Consequently, I think the omission of this con- 
cept as a general concept is one which is inadvertent and it might very 
well be usefully made explicit with respect to our own attitude. 
