NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM—1965 ae 
In addition to these formal cooperative programs, there are numer- 
ous other informational programs of an international nature. I think 
perhaps one of the best known is the cooperative work of the Lamont 
Geological Observatory of Columbia University with South America 
that has been carried out over the past decade. 
Lamont has worked closely with the Hydrographic Office of the 
Argentine Navy and, asa matter of fact, the results of this cooperative 
work have provided the basis for establishing and effective oceano- 
graphic program in Argentina. This is also true for countries such as 
Brazil, Chile, and Peru. 
Our panel has been in existence since 1962 and its purpose really is 
twofold: First, to insure that U.S. participation in the Intergovern- 
mental Oceanographic Commission and other international programs 
proceeds in an aggressive, judicious, and timely manner; and (2) that 
the panel provides a ferum whereby the various U.S. activities in inter- 
national oceanographic programs have a common meeting point. 
This enables the ICO to have a single point where it can be aware 
of all aspects of U.S. participation in international programs. 
To date, most of the efforts of our panel have been restricted to 
responsibilities the United States has in the Intergovernmental 
Oceanographic Commission. 
This involves making sure we are properly represented by our dele- 
gation to the Commission and insuring that the delegation is well 
prepared. This entails the development of a U.S. position on agenda 
items of the Commission meetings. 
I think it is fair for me to state at this time that the United States 
in all of the meetings of the Commission and the Bureau has had rep- 
resenation that has been outstanding and it has been better prepared 
than any other country attending these sessions. In so doing, it has 
been able to exert very effective leadership within the Commission. 
In addition to the mechanism of the Intergovernmental Commission 
for coordinating international programs in oceanography, there also 
exists a nongovernmental group. This is the Scientific Committee on 
Oceanographic Research under the auspices of the International Coun- 
cil of Scientific Unions. This special committee, SCOR, as it is 
called, acts as the scientific adviser and conscience to the Intergovern- 
mental Commission. It is this advisory group that looks over the sci- 
entific programs of the Commission and also advises the Commission 
on what it should do. . 
In the United States, under the National Academy’s Committee on 
Oceanography, there also exists a special committee, the U.S. National 
Committee to SCOR. This group provides the U.S. input to SCOR 
and what this does is to allow for a parallel structure both in the 
Government and outside the Government in national and international 
programs. As such, this allows complete participation of all scien- 
tists throughout the country, those who are working for the Govern- 
ment and those working for the universities. 
_ As [have mentioned, most of the past work of our panel has.been 
im connection with the Commission, making sure we are prepared for 
this activity. Looking a little to the future, we find several problems 
facing us that we would like to look into in a little more detail. The 
first is the problem of international conventions of the sea. This is a 
very complicated problem as there are many international laws and 
national laws of various countries that apply. We are trying to 
