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is compatible with continued effective operation of nuclear vessels, particularly 
submarines. 
The above comments are intended merely to be illustrative of the problems 
raised in this proposal for submitting a proposed draft treaty to the General 
Assembly of the United Nations. There are also, of course, serious questions 
about whether it is wise to recommend this specific method for pursuing a reso- 
lution of the legal and other problems that may attend ocean development. It is 
certainly conceivable that other procedures and techniques are more likely to 
serve the objectives sought. 
CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE, 
New York, N.Y., December 13, 1967. 
Hon. CLAIBORNE PELL, 
Committee on Foreign Relations, 
U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. 
DEAR SENATOR PELL: You invited me to send you my comments for the Record 
on Senate Resolution 172 introduced by you on September 29, 1967, and Senate 
Resolution 186 of November 17, 1967, also introduced by you. These resolutions 
deal with a matter of great urgency, the management and control of ocean 
space. You indicated that the Record would be open for comment on them 
until December 15. 
You are to be congratulated for introducing these two resolutions in the 
United States Senate. Both deserve Senate approval because their passage will 
serve the interests of the United States and other nations by promoting the 
development of international law and international organization. In joining the 
United Nations, all Member Governments undertake to promote certain objectives 
including the maintenance of international peace and security, the solution of 
economic and social problems and the harmonizing of national action for common 
ends. I thoroughly agree with you that these objectives will be threatened 
until a legal regime is developed for the control and management of ocean space 
which comprises more than seventy per cent of the earth’s surface and contains 
important resources beneficial to man. 
Senate Resolution 172 deserves support as it stands so far as I can judge 
from my experience with, and study of, foreign policy and international law 
and organization. Whether the year 1969 will be the best year in which to hold 
an international conference remains to be seen, but conference and agreement 
in the near future there must be on the definition of limits of the Continental 
Shelf of each nation. 
Although Senate Resolution 186 also deserves support, I would suggest one 
change. Since we do not yet know enough about the problems and potential of 
ocean space, including the sea bed and its subsoil beyond national jurisdiction, to 
define all the legal principles that will be necessary to safeguard international 
peace and security, I urge that your resolution be amended to strike out ‘‘declara- 
tion” on page 2, line 3, in favor of ‘‘examination” so that its title would read: 
“Examination of Legal Principles Governing Activities of States in the Explora- 
tion and Exploitation of Ocean Space.” 
T'o be consistent with this change the words “be guided by” on lines 7 and 8 
of page 4 might be deleted in favor of “examine the utility of...” 
On page 17, I suggest changing lines 5-11 to read: 
“Recommends that a Committee of the United Nations relating to the law 
and management of ocean space be established to examine the principle to be 
included in a draft international agreement: 
“Requests the Committee relating to the law and management of ocean space 
to report to the twenty-third session of the General Assembly on the progress of 
its work.” 
With these changes Senate Resolution 186 would add force to a proposed 
U.N. resolution that will doubtless be passed by the 22nd General Assembly this 
month, perhaps this very week, establishing an ad hoc committee to study the 
scope and various aspects of the question of the reservation exclusively for 
peaceful purposes of the sea bed and ocean floor, and the subsoil thereof, under- 
lying the high seas beyond the limits of present national jurisdiction, and the 
use of their resources in the interests of mankind. This resolution, if passed, will 
also request the U.N. Secretary General to report on the work of U.N. agencies 
in ocean affairs. 
