Special Message to the Congress Transmitting Reorganization Plan 2 of 1965: Environmental Science Services Administration

To the Congress of the United States:

I transmit herewith Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1965, prepared in accordance with the provisions of the Reorganization Act of 1949, as amended, and providing for the reorganization of two major agencies of the Department of Commerce: the Weather Bureau and the Coast and Geodetic Survey.

The reorganization plan consolidates the Coast and Geodetic Survey and the Weather Bureau to form a new agency in the Department of Commerce to be known as the Environmental Science Services Administration. It is the intention of the Secretary of Commerce to transfer the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory of the National Bureau of Standards to the Administration when the reorganization plan takes effect. The new Administration will then provide a single national focus for our efforts to describe, understand, and predict the state of the oceans, the state of the lower and upper atmosphere, and the size and shape of the earth.

Establishment of the Administration will mark a significant step forward in the continual search by the Federal Government for better ways to meet the needs of the Nation for environmental science services. The organizational improvements made possible by the reorganization plan will enhance our ability to develop an adequate warning system for the severe hazards of nature for hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, and seismic sea waves, which have proved so disastrous to the Nation in recent years. These improvements will permit us to provide better environmental information to vital segments of the Nation's economy--to agriculture, transportation, communications, and industry, which continually require information about the physical environment. They will mean better services to other Federal departments and agencies--to those that are concerned with the national defense, the exploration of outer space, the management of our mineral and water resources, the protection of the public health against environmental pollution, and the preservation of our wilderness and recreation areas.

The new Administration will bring together a number of allied scientific disciplines that are concerned with the physical environment. This integration will better enable us to look at man's physical environment as a scientific whole and to seek to understand the interactions among air, sea, and earth and between the upper and lower atmosphere. It will facilitate the development of programs dealing with the physical environment and will permit better management of these programs. It will enhance our capability to identify and solve important long-range scientific and technological problems associated with the physical environment. The new Administration will, in consequence, promote a fresh sense of scientific dedication, discovery, and challenge, which are essential if we are to attract scientists and engineers of creativity and talent to Federal employment in this field.

The reorganization plan provides for an Administrator at the head of the Administration, and for a Deputy Administrator, each of whom will be appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. As authorized by the civil service and other laws and regulations, subordinate officers of the Administration will be appointed by the Secretary of Commerce or be assigned by him from among a corps of commissioned officers. The Administration will perform such functions as the Secretary of Commerce may delegate or otherwise assign to it and will be under his direction and control.

Commissioned officers of the Coast and Geodetic Survey will become commissioned officers of the Administration and may serve at the discretion of the Secretary of Commerce throughout the Administration. The reorganization plan authorizes the President at his discretion to fill the office of Deputy Administrator by appointment, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, from the active list of commissioned officers of the Administration.

The reorganization plan transmitted herewith abolishes--and thus excludes from the consolidation mentioned above--the offices of (1) Chief of the Weather Bureau, provided for in the Act of October 1, 1890 (15 U.S.C. 312), (2) Director of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, provided for in the Acts of June 4, 1930, and February 16, 1929, as amended (33 U.S.C. 852; 852a), and (3) Deputy Director of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, provided for in the Act of January 19, 1942, as amended (33 U.S.C. 852b).

After investigation, I have found and hereby declare that each reorganization included in Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1965 is necessary to accomplish one or more of the purposes set forth in section 2(a) of the Reorganization Act of 1949, as amended. I have also found and hereby declare that by reason of the reorganizations made by the reorganization plan, it is necessary to include in the plan provisions for the appointment and compensation of the officers of the Administration set forth in section 4 of the reorganization plan. The rate of compensation fixed for each of these officers is that which I have found to prevail in respect of comparable officers in the executive branch of the Government.

In addition to permitting more effective management within the Department of Commerce, the new organization will ultimately produce economies. These economies will be of two types. The first, and probably the most significant, is the savings and avoidance of costs which will result from the sharing of complex and expensive facilities such as satellites, computers, communication systems, aircraft, and ships. These economies will increase in significance as developments in science and technology bring into being still more advanced equipment. Second, integration of the existing headquarters and field organizations will permit more efficient utilization of existing administrative staffs and thereby produce future economies. It is, however, impracticable to specify or itemize at this time the reductions of expenditures which it is probable will be brought about by the taking effect of the reorganizations included in the reorganization plan.

I recommend that the Congress allow the accompanying reorganization plan to become effective.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON

The White House

May 13, 1965