38 



At the very first meeting of the Commission, the A^ce President 

 made explicit reference to his understanding that this was to be an 

 independent study. What he did was to offer the resources of the Fed- 

 eral Government, the agencies and the Council to assist the Commis- 

 sion in any way that they wished, but that he recognized they had a 

 completely independent job to do. Furthermore, provision of four ad- 

 visors on the Commission from the Congress was an indication of the 

 view of the Congress with regard to this independence. 



Incidentally, Mr. Mosher and Mr. Lennon have been present at every 

 one of these Commission meetings from what I understand, and this 

 concept is proceeding. We have, however, wanted to sit down with 

 the Commission and make sure that as we move ahead in the Coimcil, 

 that we are not headed off in directions that might at a later date be 

 completely opposite to what the Commission wants to do. 



In other words, the President in wanting to implement the legisla- 

 tion promptly and effectively would not want to take steps at this time 

 which a year from now were criticized by the Commission as being 

 in the wrong direction. As a consequence, we have made it a point of 

 practice to invite the Chairman of the Commission to every meeting 

 of the Council, to make sure that they have the opportunity of seeing 

 what the Council is doing and to speak their mind or the Commission's 

 mmd if we appear to be headed in directions opposite to what they are 

 thinking. 



Mr. Reinecke. I thank you for that clarification and certainly com- 

 mend you for the fine job you are doing. 



Mr. Rogers of Florida. Mr. Hathaway ? 



Mr. Hathaway. Thank you, Mr, Chairman. 



Just one question. Dr. Wenk. First of all, I would like to commend 

 you on your excellent statement. I wonder if you had given any thought 

 to the suggestion that has been made — in fact. Senator Muskie and I 

 have both introduced bills — to establish a Cabinet-level department 

 on space and oceanography. 



Would you like to comment on that ? 



Dr. Wenk. This gives me an opportunity also to come back to the 

 question about the Council's interest in the issue of Federal reorganiza- 

 tion. The act explicitly gives the responsibility for making recomenda- 

 tions to the Commission. The act, however, does say that the Com- 

 mission's recommendations go to the President via the Council. 



It is for this reason that the Council is going to be obliged to think 

 through the alternatives, one of which — in fact, I believe the only 

 one on the books at this session of Congress — concerns a possible 

 Cabinet-level department proposed by Mr. Hathaway. 



The Council has up to this time given no consideration to this ques- 

 tion of Federal reorganization. At the moment we are concentrating 

 our efforts on trying to meet the objectives of the legislation by 

 strengthening overall activities with the ongoing array of Federal 

 agencies, by helping each of them to do their job. 



At some date, and this will not be too far off, we are going to have 

 to think through this organization question, so as to be prepared to 

 receive the recommendations of the Commission. The initiative and 

 the number of alternatives that will be considered we feel to be more 

 the Commission's job than it is that of the Council. 



Mr. Hathawat. Thank you very much. 



