34 



play the role in our national life that we think it should play, it should 

 have the capacity to make a direct claim upon the Federal effort and 

 not be diluted by having to compete with a number of other sub- 

 groups before it gets to the primary source of authority. 



The major functions of this new agency would be as follows: 



Explore the marine frontier and its interrelationships with the 

 atmosphere. 



Define its resoiu"ces. 



Advance capabilities for its use. 



Provide supporting services including weather and ocean forecasts. 



Minimize conflicts over uses of the marine environment. 



Coordinate scientific and technical requirements and recommenda.- 

 tions in support of foreign policy objectives. 



Serve marine industry and the marine interests of the American 

 people. 



Incidentally, I realize that I have failed to identify that part of the 

 paper that I am reading. It begins at page 20. 



There is one other step that we thought was highly important 

 because we are not merely proposing a Federal agency to take over a 

 specific governmental activity, we are proposing a national program, 

 a program to involve the entire Nation; one that would set goals not 

 just for the Government to achieve but for the encouragement of a 

 national effort in all sectors, including the industrial sector and includ- 

 ing the academic sector. Therefore, we have also suggested the estab- 

 lishment of the National Advisory Committee for the Oceans. This 

 would be a Presidentially appointed committee which would have 

 the task of advising the head of the new agency — the National Oceano- 

 graphic and Atmospheric Agency — in carrying out his functions and 

 of reporting periodically to the President and to the Congress on what 

 progress was being made in achieving national objectives. 



We considered this a recommendation of primary importance 

 because this would be a way of assuring a continuous interchange 

 between the Federal Government and the academic and industrial 

 communities, all of which have a very vital stake in the oceans; which 

 certainly have the right to be heard and without whose voices it is 

 unlikely that a true oceanographic program would be successful. 



To summarize, I think it is fair to say that the report has two 

 aspects to it: (1) There are the many recommendations for new, 

 expanded, or redirected programs, and (2) there is the question of 

 the organization of the national effort, and that is something which 

 would have extreme importance even if the other recommendations 

 of the Commission were postponed for a period of time. We are 

 spending a considerable amount of money in this field and I think 

 the likelihood is that the amount of money we are spending will 

 increase. It is bovmd to increase as the Nation's economy increases, 

 as the Nation's population increases, and as our need to go into the 

 ocean increases. 



As I said, at the present time the budget for the agencies that we 

 propose come to $800 million. All of that money is being spent in 

 activities which are bound to expand, and one of the real problems 

 here is assuring that those sums are spent effectively, that those sums 

 are spent efficiently, and that the taxpayer gets the traditional 100 

 cents worth of value on his dollar. 



