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functions relating to the safety of the marine and air transportation 
modes. 
Having succeeded in bringing the Federal transportation programs 
together, we view with great concern the proposal to move one of the 
key transportation agencies, the Coast Guard, to another location 
of the executive branch. Such a move strikes at the very reasons for 
the existence of the Department of Transportation Act. Therefore, 
while we support measures which will foster improved coordination 
of matters which bear directly on the advancement of marine science, 
engineering, and resource development, we strongly object to the move- 
ment from the Department of operational activities relating to trans- 
portation safety and efficiency. 
There may be those who would question whether the Coast Guard is 
primarily concerned with transportation. We can best answer by re- 
viewing the principal missions of the Coast Guard in time of peace. 
They fall into a logical pattern consisting of three major functions— 
law enforcement, maritime safety, and military readiness, the first two 
of which are inseparably related to marine transportation. 
The Coast Guard is the general maritime police agency of the Fed- 
eral Government. its responsibility in this field as defined by Congress 
in 1936 embodies the enforcement of all Federal laws upon the high 
seas and the navigable waters of the United States and its territories. 
In addition to the laws designed to regulate and promote navigation 
they include a broad spectrum of criminal law, oil pollution enforce- 
ment, port safety, conservation laws and many others. 
The second major function of the Coast Guard in normal times is 
that of maritime safety. The Coast Guard is the principal maritime 
safety agency of the United States and responsible for setting stand- 
ards for the merchant marine, boating safety, search and rescue, aids to 
navigation, port safety, and domestic icebreaking—to name some 
major areas of operations. 
The “marine science” tasks which the Coast Guard now undertakes 
are also mostly related to transportation safety, for example, the Na- 
tional Data Buoy System Development Project is aimed at understand- 
ing better the environment in which transportation is done. 
Among other maritime safety activities of the Coast Guard are its 
administration of laws and regulations related to the inspection of 
merchant vessels and their safety equipment, as well as the licensing 
and certification of their officers and crews. 
These inspection activities include the review of plans for construc- 
tion or alteration of merchant vessels; the periodic inspection of ships 
and their equipment; the inspection and approval of lifesaving and 
firefighting equipment; the supervision and enforcement of discipline 
on merchant vessels; and the investigation of marine casualties and 
accidents. 
The Coast Guard also makes a major contribution to the prevention 
of marine casualties through its operation of the country’s extensive 
and complex system of aids to navigation. These include lighthouses, 
lightships, offshore structures, fog signals and buoys as well as sophisti- 
cated electronic systems serving both sea and air. 
Maritime safety considerations also have strong international im- 
plications. The Coast Guard is the United States’ principal technical 
advisor with regard to the Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative 
