IV. SPECIAL STUDIES 



In addition to the various analyses and Committee support activities 

 discussed in the preceding sections, the NOPS will undertake addi- 

 tional studies in special areas of concern. Some special studies which 

 the Committee may rquire, including one already requested in part 

 and another approved in principle, are the following: 



— rForeign ocean programs (comparative studies relating to domestic 



programs) ; 

 — Relationship of national ocean policy to national economic secu- 

 rity and international ocean affairs ; 

 — Evaluation of the National Sea Grant Program and the Interna- 

 tional Decade of Ocean Exploration (IDOE) ; 

 — Evaluation of deep seabed hard minerals development following 



the 1975 Law of the Sea Conference ; and 

 — Examination of the issues involved in Federal atmospheric science 

 and weather programs. 

 These special studies are discussed in detail in the following para- 

 graphs. 



1. FOREIGN OCEAN PROGRAMS 



The Committee has requested CRS to conduct a preliminary analysis 

 of the Russian ocean program. This preliminary analysis, which was 

 completed in early February, 1975, may lead to a full in-depth analy- 

 sis of foreign, particularly Russian, ocean programs. 



A full analysis of the Russian ocean program would be particularly 

 important to NOPS. It would highlight, perhaps better than any- 

 thing else could do, the vital importance that the U.S.S.R. attaches 

 to the ocean; and it would emphasize the vast resources that Russia 

 has devoted to the scientific, technological, commercial, political, and 

 military aspects of ocean development. 



The full analysis will also include important aspects of the ocean 

 programs of other nations. 



Following this report, the NOPS may hold hearings, on the 

 subject of Russian and other foreign ocean programs. CRS could pro- 

 vide background materials for such hearings and, following the hear- 

 ings, analyze the testimony and other materials in support of further 

 Committee legislative actions. 



2. RELATIONSHIP OF NATIONAL OCEAN POLICY TO NATIONAL ECONOMIC 

 SECURITY AND INTERNATIONAL OCEAN AFFAIRS 



NOPS has already approved in principle a study to be con- 

 ducted by CRS on the relationship of national ocean policy to national 

 economic security and international ocean relations. 



The study would analyze (1) what national economic security means 

 in terms that are meaningful to the mandate of the National Ocean 



(17) 



