• a strong policy-level office be maintained, reporting to the President 

 and with outreach to state governments and private interests to focus 

 and coordinate national policies, priorities, and implementation; 



• the Administration and the Congress reopen the unfinished business 

 of the Stratton Commission with respect to the structure, organiza- 

 tion, roles, and missions of NOAA and other primary agencies charged 

 with responsibilities for the oceans and atmosphere. The present ar- 

 rangements, while a distinct improvement over the conditions which 

 preceded the Stratton Report, still fall short of providing the fully 

 integrated and accountable management system that is required. 

 Scattered and divided responsibility is unlikely to produce the per- 

 spectives and decisions needed for arriving at goals and priorities 

 for the oceans, the atmosphere, and the coastal zone. NACOA itself 

 intends to address these issues in the coming months. 



• an integrated annual budget and legislative program related to priority 

 objectives of national oceanographic and atmospheric policy should 

 be formulated and adopted by the President and the Congress at 

 levels of effort commensurate with the critical problems confronting 

 the Nation. 



Absent these measures, serious discontinuities in policy planning, re- 

 source allocation, and policy execution will continue to bog us down in 

 half measures and compromises. We can do better than that. 



42 



