62 NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM—1965 
ability for better weather prediction, long-range weather prediction, 
and such things. 
Mr. Kurrn. Thank you, Mr. McKernan. I will pursue this later. 
What I am primarily concerned about is the possibility of duplica- 
tion, a thinning of our effort, a vitiating of our effort, and there- 
fore, the ability to handle the problem. 
Mr. McKernan. Weare considering this, Mr. Keith. We certainly 
will keep this in mind. 
Mr. Kerry. Thank you. 
Mr. Lennon. I might say, Mr. Keith, as Chairman of that par- 
ticular panel on Facilities, Equipment, and Instrumentation, Mr. Mc- 
Kernan’s prime responsibility is to see that there is no duplication 
in any of these fields. 
Mr. Bauer. In your statement on page 18 you mentioned that we 
have a prototype of a national center for testing, calibration, and 
standardization of oceanographic instruments in the Navy Oceano- 
graphic Instrumentation Center. What are the current plans of your 
Panel with respect to the development of a national center that you 
have mentioned ? 
Mr. McKernan. It is the Panel’s intention to establish a National 
Instrumentation Center. The plan is as follows: 
(1) Study the operation of the present Naval Oceanographic In- 
strumentation Center and the degree to which it meets the needs of 
other agencies. 
(2) Establish a National Oceanographic Instrumentation Coor- 
dination Unit, primarily an information exchange office, with the 
Navy Instrumentation Center providing instrumentation services on 
a national level. 
(8) With increased experience and, if agreement among agencies 
can be obtained, expand the Navy Center so that it is truly national in 
character. 
(4) If such agreement cannot be reached, request funds to estab- 
lish a separate national center under the auspices of the Interagency 
Committee on Oceanography. 
It is not intended that individual agencies ever be prevented from 
developing specialized instrumentation capabilities to meet particular 
mission requirements. The operational procedures of the Coordinat- 
ing Unit are being developed in the form of the information ex- 
change system described on pages 6 and 14 of my prepared statement. 
Mr. Bauer. It has been of concern to this committee for some years, 
as you know, as to the method for utilizing ships-of-opportunity, and 
by that I mean vessels that are under the American flag sailing the 
high seas of the world. Does the Panel have any plans for complet- 
ing a suit capable of instrumenting these ships-of-opportunity ? 
Mr. McKernan. Yes, the Panel is preparing instruments which 
can be used on ships-of-opportunity. The problem here is twofold. 
The first task is to provide instruments designed to require very little 
time, no special skill, and no alternation of vessel operation; they 
must also provide data of unquestionable quality. The second is to 
insure that the oceanographic centers ashore are capable and organized 
to receive and handle the data so gathered; some work on the design 
and programing of the equipment of their data centers is required. 
