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The Commission Report recommended that fifteen members be designated by 
the President with the advice and consent of the Senate; this number seems 
like a reasonable one. The Commission also proposed that members “serve for 
fixed overlapping terms and be drawn from States, industry, science and other 
appropriate areas.” Coastal State voting representation and Federal observers 
representation were recommended by the Commission. 
OSTAC suggests, however, that State and Federal government representation 
on the advisory committee should be through non-voting participants. Each of 
the principal government agencies concerned with marine matters, such as the 
Navy, the National Ocean Agency, the Interior Department, the Corps of Engi- 
neers, AEC and NASA, should designate a senior policy official to participate and 
furnish information and opinions from his agency. State representatives should 
be from each of the coastal regions, including the Great Lakes. Representation 
and make-up of this advisory committee are most crucial. We believe all voting 
members should come from the private sector, including universities and 
oceanographic institutions. In view of industry’s conspicuous leadership in the 
utilization of the ocean, we also believe that a majority of the voting members 
should have extensive industrial experience and should be drawn primarily 
from companies involved in direct use of the sea. Those industries that supply 
hardware and services also should be represented. 
The National advisory committee should be provided with a full-time staff 
and, we would like to emphasize, this staff should be independent of that of 
any National ocean agency. 
The Commission Report cites the report of its Panel on Marine Engineering 
and Technology (page VI-24) where a number of more specific functions are 
listed which might be assigned to the National advisory committee. We endorse 
these functions with slight modifications, and believe they are important enough 
to call to your attention, OSTAC’s suggested modifications are in parentheses. 
They are as follows: 
Review and advise on updating the 10-year objectives of the National 
ocean program ; 
Assess current levels of activity in terms of accomplishing the 10-year 
objectives ; 
Identify deficiencies and recommend assignment of responsibilities to 
rectify them ; 
Recommend means to eliminate unintentional duplication of effort; 
Review and offer a national perspective to the plans and budget requests 
of the U.S. Government agencies by taking into account efforts outside the 
Government ; 
Recommend lead agencies for marine programs having multi-agency inter- 
ests, and recommend whether specific marine programs can best be under- 
taken by the Navy, by the new consolidation of appropriate existing agencies, 
or by an agency not included in the civilian consolidation ; 
Offer guidance and recommend important new ocean programs and facili- 
ties for the overall National program, making effective use of the competence 
of both private and Government organizations; 
Promote means for coliecting, processing and disseminating pertinent 
technical information. 
Recommend an adaquate level of programs and facilities for marine 
education and training. 
Anticipate, focus attention on, discuss and recommend (methods for) 
the resolution of multiple-user conflicts. 
Help to ensure that the National program has proper and continual 
visibility to State and municipal governments, private enterprise, the 
academic community and especially to the Congress and the public. 
(Serve, when appropriate, as the focal point and the source of informa- 
tion upon which the plans and arrangements for international programs 
should be based. ) 
Generate pertinent activities on its own consistent with its overall 
responsibilities. 
OSTAC does not represent a specific industry. Indeed, we have multiple 
industrial representation: petroleum, fishing, chemicals, mining, recreation, 
aerospace, etc. When our executive committee deliberates, we try not only to 
summarize the views of our individual industry panels, but also try to recon- 
cile any diverse viewpoints. In these deliberations, a more complete and factual 
understanding of a matter inevitably is developed, resulting in most cases in 
