REORGANIZATION OF U.S. OCEAN ACTIVITIES 
(By Herman T. Franssen* ) 
INTRODUCTION 
The truly impressive Soviet achievements in both military and 
civilian ocean activities during the past two decades are primarily 
the result of clearly defined objectives, and coordination and cen- 
tralization of the major decisions related to ocean activities at the 
highest organizational level of the Government and the party. 
By contrast, in the United States, Government responsibility over 
ocean activities is widely scattered and efforts to coordinate marine 
activities are at too low a level in Government to be truly effective. 
In a recent report to NACOA, Senator Lowell P. Weicker, a 
member of the Senate Commerce Committee’s national ocean policy 
study, summarized U.S. ocean policy as follows: 
: the existing Federal oceans program lacks both clearly 
defined objectives and top-level support. As a result, individual 
ocean policy decisions made within the existing fragmented 
Federal structure are uncoordinated, often have directly compet- 
ing objectives, and clearly fail to maximize the potential of our 
ocean activities. Lack of strong high-level support for ocean ac- 
tivities within the executive branch virtually guarantees low visi- 
bility, low budgets, and less than optimal results . . .* 
Soviet successes should not imply a need for restructuring U.S. ocean 
policy along Soviet lines. Aside from the basic commitment to a 
unified ocean policy made at the highest level in Soviet Government 
and the Communist Party, there is little organizationally worth borrow- 
ing from this system. 
Soviet oceans policy and administration is formally centralized and 
unified. In fact, however, the various compound elements operate 
fairly independently of each other, and often in competition. If the 
top leadership choose to do so, they could direct a unified administra- 
tion. This would require party intervention at all levels and might 
be more costly in loss of technical efficiency than in perceived gains 
in unified policy. Were U.S. policy unified or even organized at the 
top, ocean policy guidelines could be established as a basis around 
which technical consensus could be reached. No need for direct politi- 
cal intervention in each technical sphere would be required. The 
point is that the American system has the capability for more effective 
*The author is an analyst in science and technology with the Ocean and Coastal Resources Project 
of the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress. Dr. Franssen has published nu- 
merous articles and congressional studies on Energy, Ocean Resources Development, Law of the Sea, 
Scientific Research at Sea, and Technology Transfer. Prior to joining C.R.S. in 1974, Dr. Franssen 
taught and researched at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (Medford, Mass.), the Woods 
Hole Oceanographic Institution (Woods Hole, Mass.), and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 
University of California at San Diego. 
1Congressional Record, Apr. 13, 1976, p. $5631 
(627) 
