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The Department of Transportation has as its main purpose transportation 
safety and efficiency. For this reason the Federal Aviation Agency and the Coast 
Guard were brought under the DOT. In addition, matters relating to automo- 
bile safety standards, highway safety, railroad safety, pipeline safety and safety 
of motor carriers were all placed in the Department. 
The latest figures suggest that over 70% ($296.1 million) of the Coast Guard’s 
budget is involved with purposes of transportation ; approximately 19.0% ($76.5 
million) is expended for military matters; and 7%. ($29.4 million) is expended 
for oceanography. 
The Coast Guard has always played a vital role in boating safety. During 
the fiscal year 1968, the Coast Guard responded to nearly 30 thousand calls for 
assistance by private vessels. The total number of persons involved in assitance 
cases exceeded 117 thousand. 
Pursuant to the mission of the Coast Guard to promote safety it has recognized 
that construction safety standards by the boat building industry contribute greatly 
to safe boating. In this connection, close liaison is maintained with industry 
through several industry associations, including BIA. 
The Coast Guard provides and operates many aids to navigation. The majority 
of these have been established for commercial purposes but all are available for 
use by pleasure boatmen. 
In addition to the research and rescue work done by the Coast Guard, the 
U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, a volunteer, non-military organization promotes 
safety in recreational boating. The Auxiliary carries out two basic programs. 
The first is courtesy motorboat examination. This includes a thorough safety 
examination. In Fiscal year 1969, approximately 167 thousand of these examina- 
tions were carried out. 
The Auxiliary also carries out a program of public instruction, and in 1969, 
more than 167 thousand recreational boats took part in classroom instruction 
in safe boating practices. 
Because of the vital role the Coast Guard plays in marine safety, it is difficult 
for us to support the recommendation in H.R. 13247 that the Coast Guard be 
transferred to the National Oceanic and Atomspheric Agency (NOAA), whose 
primary function is to be the “advancement of fundamental understanding of 
the biological, physical, geological, and chemical characteristics of the marine 
environment and atmosphere.” 
BIA feels that this purpose is not compatible with the Coast Guard‘s function 
as the nation’s principal maritime safety agency. Transfer of the Search and 
Rescue function to another agency would cripple a systems approach to maritime 
safety. The system has two essential elements, prevention of casulaties and re- 
covery when casualties occur. Because the Coast Guard’s orientation is over- 
whelming towards transportation, and more specifically, transportation safety, 
its transfer to another agency would probably cause the DOT to engage in costly 
duplicate efforts, or perhaps even result in the dismemberment of the Coast 
Guard to return its transportation functions to DOT. 
Dr. Robert A. Frosch, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Research and Develop- 
ment, stated before the Subcommittee that the Commission Report failed to ade- 
quately consider the large proportion of the Coast Guard’s work concerned with 
search and rescue, and with marine safety matters not closely allied to the other 
functions assigned to NOAA. 
Because the Coast Guard is an operational agency, we also feel that its inclusion 
in NOAA would be further damaged by the fact that NOAA is a research organi- 
zation. The Coast Guard’s vast resources are not compatible with carrying out 
research and development programs as its main responsibility. Experience with 
NASA and with research and development departments in industry indicate that 
research-oriented programs tend to spin off operational responsibilities. 
In addition the Commission Report states, “the Coast Guard represents an 
enormously valuable national marine resource that is at present underutilized 
because of traditional constraints on its mission and lack of proper milieu for its 
operations.” This appears to be the basic premise on which the Commission 
Report builds its ease for transferring the Coast Guard to a new agency. It is our 
understanding that the Coast Guard is stretched to the limit in meeting its present 
operational workload. If the Coast Guard is transferred, we are concerned that 
without substantial increases in its budget, the proposed new direction for the 
Coast Guard could only be achieved by elimination or reduction of the vital 
transportation and safety services now being performed. The financial plan of 
the Commission Report does not project the increase in resources needed to 
