626 
It is of great importance, however, to develop a national ocean 
policy which will provide academic institutions and industries with 
some direction as to American priorities with respect to the utilization 
of the ocean and its resources. Industry is likely to respond in the 
same way it did to NASA’s Apollo project. The immediate benefits 
from heavy investment in hydrospace science and technology might 
be more promising than the effects of R. & D. inputs on the commer- 
cial utilization of outerspace. 
Eighth. The Soviet Union’s emergence as a first-rate maritime power 
within the last two decades is largely the result of recognition, in 
the highest echelons of the Soviet Government and the Communist 
Party, of the importance of the oceans for the economic well-being 
and national security of the Soviet Union. This recognition by the 
leadership has been translated into a determined and well-coordinated 
ocean policy. The United States does not now have a national ocean 
policy. While the United States may learn from certain aspects of 
Soviet ocean policymaking, few critics of American ocean policy 
would opt for the Soviet system of central authority. There are, how- 
ever, several options available to us within our own form of govern- 
ment which will have the effect of strengthening our ocean activities. 
The American system of checks and balances, of compromises 
between divergent views, and of cooperation between Government, 
industry, and academia should be able to meet both the old challenges 
of harnessing and developing the seas and the new challenge of those 
who may try to deny the free world access to the oceans and its 
wealth. 
