Lyndon B. Johnson photo

Letter to the Secretary of Commerce Concerning a Report on the Environmental Science Services Administration.

February 01, 1967

[ Released February 1, 1967. Dated January 31, 1967 ]

Dear Mr. Secretary:

I have reviewed your report on the fine progress that has been made in implementing Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1965, which created the Environmental Science Services Administration in the Department of Commerce.

In forwarding that Reorganization Plan to the Congress, I stated that the reorganization would permit us to provide better environmental information to vital segments of the nation's economy and enhance our capability to identify and solve problems associated with the physical environment. ESSA's accomplishments are bearing out these predictions.

Your report indicates that the reorganization has resulted in specific economies, improved management of programs, and better services to the public. This combination of achievements is basic to this Administration's concepts of how the public's business can and must be conducted. You stated in your letter that there is further progress to be made in the future. I am confident that this progress will be made.

I want to commend you, ESSA management, and all ESSA employees for the efficiency and sensitivity which have contributed to carrying out this reorganization. These accomplishments will benefit substantially the public and other agencies of the Government.

Sincerely,

LYNDON B. JOHNSON

[Honorable John T. Connor, Secretary of Commerce, Washington, D.C. 20230]

Note: Secretary Connor's report, transmitted January 27, 1967, is printed in the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents (vol. 3, P. 160). The report listed six major improvements in ESSA programs:

1. Development of a National Disaster Warning System to give rapid advance notice of tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, floods, seismic sea waves, and storm surges;

2. Establishment of the National Earthquake Information Center for prompt distribution of precise information on location, time, size, and effects of earthquakes;

3. Coordinated study of problems related to supersonic transport development, such as hazardous radiation and the need for more critical weather information;

4. Institutes for Environmental Research to coordinate programs of the Weather Bureau, the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory of the National Bureau of Standards;

5. Development by the National Environmental Satellite Center of a program to utilize improved satellite sensors to gather data on snow cover, for sea and lake ice reconnaissance and for identification of flood areas;

6. Integration of data collection and dissemination by the Environmental Data Service of ESSA.

Lyndon B. Johnson, Letter to the Secretary of Commerce Concerning a Report on the Environmental Science Services Administration. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/238128

Filed Under

Categories

Attributes

Simple Search of Our Archives