The request for fiscal year 1977 is for 464 positions and $17,234,900, an increase of $302,500. It would appear that all these increases are of a mandatory nature, that is, pay and price increases. Is that a fair statement?

Mr. ELLER. That is, Mr. Chairman.

CONSUMER AFFAIRS OFFICE

Mr. SLACK. Is this where the Consumer Affairs Office is located? Mr. ELLER. It is located in the office of the Under Secretary for Economic Affairs.

Mr. SLACK. Is this reflected in the justifications?

Mr. ELLER. The Office of Consumer Affairs, Mr. Chairman, is not reflected in these justifications.

Mr. SLACK. Will you tell the committee why there is an alleged need for a Consumer Affairs Office in the Department of State? Mr. EAGLEBURGER. Yes, Mr. Chairman.

It has been fairly evident to me for sometime and it is now clear to me that the Department of State deals substantially in issues which affect U.S. consumers. For example, this morning we talked about the grain problem with the Soviet Union. That clearly has an impact since we negotiate trade agreements throughout the world which would have an impact on consumers of the United States. We feel there is a substantial amount of the economic business the Department does around the world which affects the consumer and we have felt, as does the President, that we need to introduce into our policymaking process at an early level the question of the consumer needs of the country and how those would be impacted on by our negotiations.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1976.

OFFICE OF PROTOCOL

WITNESS

HENRY E. CATTO, JR., CHIEF OF PROTOCOL

Mr. SLACK. The next item under Salaries and Expenses is the Office of Protocol.

The 1977 budget requests 45 positions and $1,031,300, an increase of $18,700 over the 1976 amount. It appears all the increases are for salary increases and price increases. Is that correct? Mr. CATTO. Yes, sir.

INCREASED WORKLOAD FOR BICENTENNIAL ACTIVITIES

Mr. SLACK. How much of an increase in workload do you anticipate as a result of the 1976 Bicentennial celebration?

Mr. CATTO. The workload will, of course, be increased, Mr. Chairman, because there are quite a large number of visits which will take place as a result of the Bicentennial. However, we are anticipating

being able to handle the increased workload within the framework we now have by use of overtime and everybody pulling just a little harder.

Mr. SLACK. Are you talking about overtime which they are compensated for?

Mr. CATTO. Yes.

Mr. EAGLEBURGER. I hope we will be able to call on the bureaus for extra assistance to Mr. Catto as these visits occur.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1976.

BUREAU OF OCEANS AND INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL AND SCIENTIFIC AFFAIRS

WITNESS

MYRON B. KRATZER, ACTING ASSISTANT SECRETARY

Mr. SLACK. The next item under Salaries and Expenses is the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. The request is for 92 positions and $3,141,900, an increase of $71,300 over the 1976 amount. Is the increase all of a mandatory nature? Mr. EAGLEBURGER. I have Acting Assistant Secretary Kratzer, who will speak to that.

Mr. KRATZER. Yes, sir, it is.

LAW OF THE SEA NEGOTIATIONS

Mr. SLACK. What is this Bureau's involvement in the Law of the Sea negotiations?

Mr. KRATZER. Part of our bureau is the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Oceans and Fisheries Affairs held by Deputy Assistant Secretary Rozanne Ridgeway. She is also a member of the U.S. delegation to the Law of the Sea negotiations. We play a very direct role in the Law of the Sea negotiations.

Mr. SLACK. What is the current status?

Mr. KRATZER. The negotiations will begin on the 15th of March, resume and run to the 9th of May. We are optimistic, but it is not certain a treaty will result from this round of negotiations. It may be that an additional round will be required.

200-MILE FISHERIES LIMIT

Mr. SLACK. As you know, the House and Senate have passed H.R. 200 dealing with the 200-mile limit with regard to fishing. I believe the President has indicated his willingness to sign this legislation when it is finalized. What is the position of the Department of State with respect to that legislation?

Mr. KRATZER. It was our initial belief we could accomplish more of our objectives if this could be resolved by negotiation. But we do believe the situation which will be presented by the 200-mile bill,

especially if the conference committee allows a time extension before it becomes fully effective, will make it a workable situation. We are, of course, going to get behind it and implement it to the best of our ability.

Mr. SLACK. Will it have any monetary impact on this Bureau?

Mr. KRATZER. Yes. The bill will require the renegotiation of some 20-odd fishery agreements between the time the bill comes into effect and its actual date of implementation which may be either the end of 1976 or mid-1977. This will impose a rather substantial additional workload on the Office of Fisheries Affairs.

Mr. SLACK. Thank you very much.

OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR CONGRESSIONAL RELATIONS

The next item is the Office of Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations.

The request is for $855,400 and 30 positions, an increase of $11,300 over the 1976 amount. Is all this increase of a mandatory nature? Mr. ELLER. Yes, sir, it is.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1976.

OFFICE OF THE LEGAL ADVISER

WITNESS

MONROE LEIGH, LEGAL ADVISER

Mr. SLACK. If there are no questions, we shall proceed to the next item: the Office of the Legal Adviser.

Mr. EAGLEBURGER. I would like to introduce Mr. Monroe Leigh, the Legal Adviser.

Mr. SLACK. How are you, sir?

Mr. LEIGH. Fine, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. SLACK. The request which appears on page 50 of the justifications is for 105 positions and $3,273,100, which represents an increase of $62,000 over the appropriation for the current fiscal year. It would appear all the increases are for pay costs and price increases. Is that correct?

Mr. LEIGH. That is correct, Mr. Chairman.

ROLE OF THE LEGAL ADVISER IN INTERNATIONAL NEGOTIATIONS

Mr. SLACK. What role does the Legal Adviser play in international negotiations such as Law of the Sea, SALT, et cetera?

Mr. LEIGH. In negotiating on the Law of the Sea, this used to be the entire responsibility of the Legal Adviser. Two or 3 years ago, it was moved from our office, and since that time, our function has been to supply legal advice.

We have six lawyers working in this area. Four of those are exclusively on Law of the Sea negotiations. With respect to SALT, we have

one lawyer working full time on that in the Office of the Assistant Legal Adviser, U.N. Affairs, and another lawyer who heads that Office and spends a good deal of time with that.

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION AND PRIVACY ACTS

Mr. SLACK. What office or bureau is responsible for administering the Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts?

Mr. LEIGH. Operationally, the Freedom of Information Act comes under the Bureau of Public Affairs. Our Office is interested in questions arising in implementing it. As of now there are a great many unresolved legal issues. I personally have been very active on this in the last year. We have one attorney working full time on the Freedom of Information Act in one of the divisions, and another attorney assigned full time to the Privacy Act. From time to time other attorneys are involved.

Mr. SLACK. You might supply at this point in the record the number of lawyers required to comply with both these acts.

[The information requested follows:]

At the present time, in the Office of the Legal Adviser, 2 attorney-years are being devoted to the Freedom of Information Act and 1 attorney-year to the Privacy Act.

Mr. EAGLEBURGER. I should point out the Freedom of Information Act is principally with the Bureau of Public Affairs, however, the Privacy Act is basically with Mr. Thomas' Office. Mr. SLACK. Thank you, Mr. Leigh.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1976.

BUREAU OF ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS AFFAIRS

WITNESS

JOSEPH A. GREENWALD, ASSISTANT SECRETARY

Mr. SLACK. The next item is the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs.

Mr. EAGLEBURGER. Ambassador Greenwald is here.

Mr. SLACK. The request is for 229 positions and $6,283,700, an increase of $100,900 over fiscal year 1976 amounts. Are all of the increases of a mandatory nature?

Mr. GREENWALD. Yes, sir.

DEPENDENCE ON OIL

Mr. SLACK. At our hearings last year, Mr. Enders made the following statement:

The Economic Bureau is deeply involved in developing and executing programs in collaboration with our major partners in Europe and Japan, to reduce our dependence on OPEC oil, to bring down the price of oil, and to protect ourselves in the event of an oil cutoff.

What progress has been made in this regard?

Mr. GREENWALD. Since Mr. Enders appeared and made that statement, Mr. Chairman

Mr. SLACK. He has left.

Mr. GREENWALD. I have been on the job officially about 2 weeks. He did not leave because he made that statement, sir.

As a matter of fact, I think it is a remarkable story. We have established, first of all, an emergency program among all industrialized countries of Europe, North America, and Japan, to deal with the possibility of another embargo and to arrange for cooperation with the oil companies. This is basically for emergency situations.

Then, the most recent development, looking toward the reduction of dependence on Middle East oil, is a longer range program which include, first, cooperation in conservation, trying to set general targets for conservation programs and to review what governments are doing. Second, we need to develop programs and policies which will encourage the development of alternative sources of energy.

Part of this effort is the establishment of a minimum safeguard price to make sure people will invest in alternative sources of energy. Finally, we have a cooperative program for R. & D. on an industrialized country basis so we can get the benefits of work done in various countries. Together we will try to find other sources of energy besides oil outside of the areas now producing.

OFFICE OF STRATEGIC INDUSTRIAL MATERIALS

Mr. SLACK. Is there an Office of Strategic Industrial Materials in this Bureau?

Mr. GREENWALD. Yes, sir.

Mr. SLACK. What are the responsibilities of that office?

Mr. GREENWALD. The office has the primary responsibility for industrial and strategic materials, particularly those which are critical to our economy and held in U.S. strategic stockpiles. The division also works on overall commodity policy such as problems which arise in terms of the development of sources for the products which we need and issues relating to trade in these products. Sometimes commodity agreements are involved; for example, the tin agreement. Other times there are study groups. Basically, the office relates the questions of reliability of foreign sources and supply of these critical materials to the discussion of commodity policy.

Mr. SLACK. How many employees are engaged in this activity?

Mr. GREENWALD. Sixteen positions-11 officers and 5 secretaries-are authorized. We have on duty a total of nine-seven officers and two secretaries. Three additional officers have been selected and are to report shortly. We are actively seeking personnel for the remaining vacant officer position and the three secretarial vacancies.

Mr. SLACK. Thank you very much.