By any measure the United States is the world's greatest sea power, yet this is a nation that has no real strategic plan for its ocean future—a plan that would facilitate coordination, prioritization, and funding of the national interest in the oceans covering 71% of our planet's surface.
Attempts have been made before. A little more than 35 years ago a government-wide effort was launched to establish a national ocean plan. The initiative primarily came from congressional actions begun many years earlier. Despite a difficult birth, this was the first serious consideration of the nation's future in the oceans and how it should be organized.
The "Marine Resources and Engineering Development Act of 1966" was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson, creating two important organizations. First was the National Council on Marine Resources and Engineering Development. Chaired by the Vice President, its members were cabinet officers of agencies who had ocean program responsibilities. The council coordinated government ocean programs operated by ten federal agencies ranging from the Department of Defense to NASA.
The second body was the Commission on Marine Science, Engineering, and Resources, which came into being in 1967. It was popularly known as the "Stratton Commission," after its chairman, retired Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Julius Stratton. Its 18 presidentially appointed members, all with experience in ocean-related activities, were selected from outside the federal government. Unlike the council, the commission had only two years to complete its work before being terminated in accordance with the act.
In April 1969 the commission completed its work with its report, "Our Nation and the Sea." Several recommendations eventually were adopted by the Johnson and Nixon administrations, including the founding of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in 1970 and the National Advisory Committee on Oceans and Atmosphere (NACOA) in 1972. This high-level review of national ocean interests also stimulated a government-wide dialog and debate. Not everyone agreed with the commission's work, but these disagreements stimulated progress. For a few years ocean issues enjoyed significant visibility on the U.S. political scene.
Regrettably, after 15 years of productive service advising Congress and the White House, NACOA was terminated in October 1986. Congress and the administration of the moment had decided such outside advice was not needed.
Some time before the demise of NACOA, the National Council on Marine Resources and Engineering Development had slipped into obscurity and its functions moved elsewhere. Interagency ocean program coordination became more lip service than substance.
In the early 1990s various members of Congress recognized it was time for another high-level review of the national interest in the oceans. A national ocean policy was needed. In mid-2000, Congress passed the Ocean Policy Act of 2000. President Bill Clinton signed it into law that August.
The most important feature of the act was creation of the National Commission on Ocean Policy. It was activated on 20 January 2001, the first working day of the new Congress. Under the act, President George W. Bush would have 90 days to appoint 16 members. Despite the provisions of the act, members were not appointed until June 2001. Admiral James D. Watkins, former Chief of Naval Operations, Secretary of Energy, and founding president of the Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education, was selected to be the chairman.
The act requires the commission to undertake a full review and assessment of all the nation's ocean programs, their institutional frameworks, and relevant laws. The final report will make recommendations to the White House and Congress for actions to meet future needs. This work is to be completed within 18 months, and then the President has 120 days to make his comments and proposals to Congress.
There have been two meetings in 2001 (September and November); it is too soon to judge progress. Hopefully each commission member will be given a copy of the Stratton Commission's "Our Nation and the Sea." There are useful things to be learned from this history.