Office of the President have significantly influenced 
national ocean policy over the years. 
A special assistant to the President for Science 
and Technology was appointed, and in March 1959 
the Federal Council for Science and Technology 
(FCST) was formed, followed by the creation of the 
Interagency Committee on Oceanography (ICO) 
within the FCST. The expression of interest by the 
Administration in ocean science and technology has 
been cited by commentators as the catalyst which 
prompted the Congress to create formally the Marine 
Science Council in 1966. A bill to this effect was 
pocket-vetoed upon adjournment of the 87th Con- 
gress, allegedly for administrative rather than sub- 
stantive reasons. 
With the termination of the Marine Science Coun- 
cil in 1971, the responsibility for marine science 
oversight within the Executive Office of the Presi- 
dent was shifted to the Office of Science and Tech- 
nology (OST) until its dismantlement in 1973. Since 
that time, and until the creation of the Office of 
Science and Technology Policy in 1976," the Execu- 
tive Office of the President was without in-house 
counsel for marine science and ocean affairs. During 
the interim, the science advisory role was served by 
the Director of the National Science Foundation 
(NSF), through the staff of the Science and Tech- 
nology Policy Office. However, that Office had no 
special unit to track the developments in ocean sci- 
ence policy. 
Present White House Policy Organization 
Policy Councils 
The policy formulation system within the White 
House generally reflects the style and character of 
the President. Some Presidents have relied on the 
advice of cloistered associates, others have developed 
a collegial atmosphere among Cabinet members, and 
some prefer to rely on staff analysis and trusted 
senior staff within the White House for policy guid- 
ance. 
However, each modern President has inherited a 
number of special policy councils that have been 
established in the Executive Office of the President 
by statute, reorganization plan, Presidential memo- 
randum, and executive order. Before Reorganization 
Plan No. 1 of 1977, under which the Executive 
Office of the President was restructured, 19 policy 
units dealt with general and specialized issue areas. 
Nine of these units were eliminated by the Reorga- 
nization Plan and earlier executive action. 
Before reorganization, various aspects of ocean 
policy were considered by four Cabinet-level coun- 
cils that were responsible for formulating general 
policy: (1) Domestic Council, (2) National Security 
Council, (3) Energy Resources Council, and (4) 
Council on International Economics Policy. In real- 
ity, these entities operated less like true councils in 
the sense of collegial decisions being made through 
interaction among Cabinet officers and more like 
specialized staff operations, but the councils did 
serve as a forum for resolving conflicts among com- 
peting domestic, international, economic, and energy 
policies. 
Reorganization Plan No. 1 eliminated both the 
Energy Resources Council and the Council on Inter- 
national Economics Policy. The Domestic Council’s 
functions were melded into a Domestic Policy Staff 
within the White House Office and given responsibil- 
ity for managing the processes that coordinate the 
development of domestic and economic policy. The 
National Security Council (NSC), which was created 
by the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 
402), remains as originally constituted. Its function 
is to advise the President with respect to the integra- 
tion of domestic, foreign, and military policies re- 
lated to national security. 
This new system of policy integration within the 
White House places the responsibilities for coordi- 
nating ocean policy upon the Domestic Policy Staff 
and the National Security Council. Additional input 
to policy formulation comes from the Office of Sci- 
ence and Technology Policy and the Council on 
Environmental Quality, which reside in the Execu- 
tive Office of the President. 
Emphasis of the new policy process and organiza- 
tion in the White House is placed on Presidential 
decision-making. The departments and agencies 
must, therefore, assume the major responsibility for 
reviewing the state of ocean policy on a continuing 
basis and provide policy initiatives for consideration 
by the White House. This places an added burden 
on the White House staff to ensure that agency ef- 
forts are properly coordinated and evaluated. 
The Presidential decision-making process will use 
a system of Presidential Review Memorandum 
(PRM) similar to that which has been developed by 
the National Security Council. The PRM process 
is a mechanism for developing a decision document 
through interaction of the White House staff and the 
agencies. It is an interactive process that uses inter- 
agency working groups coupled with staff input to 
produce a decision memorandum upon which the 
President can implement policy directions through 
directives and other appropriate means. The process 
described in figure 9-2 would be used for the 
most complex policy issues. An abbreviated version 
of the PRM process will normally be used for less 
complex policy decisions. The President plays an 
wu National Science and Technology Policy, Organization, and 
Priorities Act of 1976, 42 U.S.C. 6601 et seq. (Supp. 1976). 
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