The major scientific and technical programs of the Department are conducted in the National Bureau of Standards, the Patent Office, and the Environmental Science Services Administration. These bureaus are under the direction of the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Science and Technology, as is the Office of State Technical Services, through which cooperative State-Federal programs are conducted to spread the fruits of science and technology. In addition, special offices-the Office of Standards Policy and the Office of Telecommunications-serve the Assistant Secretary in these two important areas of technology.

From the Department's technical programs come knowledge and services which are basic resources for science, industry, agriculture, transportation, communications, and many activities of daily life. For example, Commerce Department scientists and engineers provide . . .

. . . standards for the Nation's measurement system, the working language of science;

. . new knowledge needed to improve man's understanding of his physical environment, and to develop the more advanced services which he will require in the future;

. . information, forecasts, and warnings concerning the physical environment, from the ocean bottom to outer space;

basic data on the properties of atoms and the nature of the universe;

technical information generated by the Federal Government's research and development programs;

access to the storehouse of knowledge for innovation represented by the Nation's patent system;

technology and development of telecommunications;

. . standards to assure the best interests of all segments of the public in the flow of commerce-from producer to distributor to consumer;

. . participation in interdepartmental activities in such fields as patents, atmospheric sciences, and meteorology;

analyses of the technology gap between certain European countries and the United States, to help our Government determine proper policy and programs; and

understanding of technological innovation in our economy.

The common theme running through these programs is that they are designed to maintain a dynamic, growing economy through the effective use of science and technology.

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The Environmental Science Services Administration, better known ESSA, seeks to describe and understand man's physical environment, to predict the state of the oceans and atmosphere, and to determine precisely the size and shape of the earth. ESSA is engaged also in research to strengthen and expand the Nation's capabilities in telecommunications. Through its Coast and Geodetic Survey, Weather Bureau, Environmental Data Service, National Environmental Satellite Center, and Research Laboratories, ESSA helps defend life and property against the hazards of nature and improve man's comprehension and uses of the earth, sun, sea, and atmosphere.

ESSA was created in July 1965, bringing together the functions of two old-line Commerce agencies, the Coast and Geodetic Survey and Weather Bureau, and the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory. The combination of these functions provided, for the first time in a single agency, the talent, equipment, and responsibility to conduct a systematic study of the total physical environment.

ESSA gathers, processes, and issues information on weather conditions, river water height, coastal tides and currents, movement of ocean currents, the structure and shape of ocean basins, seismic activity, the precise size and shape of the earth, and conditions in the upper atmosphere and space. The agency maintains warning systems against hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and seismic sea-waves, and other environmental hazards, and is working to develop techniques of earthquakes prediction. ESSA employees, in the United States

and elsewhere around the world, man geophysical observatories, communications systems, and environmental research laboratories. Their equipment reflects a new technology of survey ships and instrumented aircraft, computers and environmental survey satellites.

THE WEATHER BUREAU reports the weather of the United States and its possessions, provides weather forecasts to the general public, issues warnings against tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, and other weather hazards, and records the climate of the United States. In addition to this basic weather service, the Weather Bureau develops and furnishes specialized weather services which support the needs of agricultural, aeronautical, maritime, space, and military operations. The services of the Weather Bureau are supported by a national network of surface and upper-air observing stations, aircraft, satellite systems, communications, computers, and some 300 Weather Bureau offices across the land.

THE COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY prepares charts that promote the safety and efficiency of marine and air navigation and conducts surveys to develop and maintain the precise geodetic control network essential to mapping and engineering projects. Programs in geophysics include measurement of gravity and determinations of the earth's size and shape. Geophysical observatories, mobile field parties, and a worldwide network of seismograph stations provide the data used in monitoring earthquake activity and variations in the earth's magnetic field-and in issuing seismic sea-wave warnings to