[Reorg. Plan No. 4, 5 U.S.C. app. at 1557-61 (1994)]
Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1970
Eff. Oct. 3, 1970, 35 F.R. 15627, 84 Stat. 2090, as amended Pub. L. 94-461, § 4(c)(1), Oct. 8,
1976, 90 Stat. 1969; Pub. L. 95-219, § 3(a)(1), Dec. 28, 1977, 91 Stat. 1613; Pub. L. 98-498,
Title III, § 320 (c)(3), Oct. 19, 1984, 98 Stat. 2309; Pub. L. 99-659, Title IV, § 407(d), Nov. 14,
1986, 100 Stat. 3739.
Prepared by the President and transmitted to the Senate and the House of Representatives in
Congress assembled, July 9, 1970, pursuant to the provisions of chapter 9 of title 5 of the United
States Code.
NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION
SECTION 1. Transfers to Secretary of Commerce. The following are hereby
transferred to the Secretary of Commerce:
(a) All functions vested by law in the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries of the Department
of the Interior or in its head, together with all functions vested by law in the Secretary of the
Interior or the Department of the Interior which are administered through that Bureau or are
primarily related to the Bureau, exclusive of functions with respect to (1) Great Lakes fishery
research and activities related to the Great Lakes Fisheries Commission, (2) Missouri River
Reservoir research, (3) the Gulf Breeze Biological Laboratory of the said Bureau at Gulf Breeze,
Florida, and (4) Trans-Alaska pipeline investigations.
(b) The functions vested in the Secretary of the Interior by the Act of September 22, 1959
(Public Law 86-359, 73 Stat. 642, 16 U.S.C. 760e-760g; relating to migratory marine species of
game fish).
(c) The functions vested by law in the Secretary of the Interior, or in the Department of
the Interior or in any officer or instrumentality of that Department, which are administered
through the Marine Minerals Technology Center of the Bureau of Mines.
(d) All functions vested in the National Science Foundation by the National Sea Grant
College and Program Act of 1966 (80 Stat. 998), as amended (33 U.S.C. 1121 et seq.).
(e) Those functions vested in the Secretary of Defense or in any officer, employee, or
organizational entity of the Department of Defense by the provision of Public Law 91-144, 83
Stat. 326, under the heading "Operation and maintenance, general" with respect to "surveys and
charting of northern and northwestern lakes and connecting waters," or by other law, which come
under the mission assigned as of July 1, 1969, to the United States Army Engineer District, Lake
Survey, Corps of Engineers, Department of the Army and relate to (1) the conduct of
hydrographic surveys of the Great Lakes and their outflow rivers, Lake Champlain, New York
State Barge Canals, and the Minnesota-Ontario border lakes, and the compilation and publication
of navigation charts, including recreational aspects, and the Great Lakes Pilot for the benefit and
use of the public, (2) the conception, planning, and conduct of basic research and development in
the fields of water motion, water characteristics, water quantity, and ice and snow, and (3) the
publication of data and the results of research projects in forms useful to the Corps of Engineers
and the public, and the operation of a Regional Data Center for the collection, coordination,
analysis, and the furnishing to interested agencies of data relating to water resources of the Great
Lakes.
(f) So much of the functions of the transferor officers and agencies referred to in or
affected by the foregoing provisions of this section as is incidental to or necessary for the
performance by or under the Secretary of Commerce of the functions transferred by those
provisions or relates primarily to those functions. The transfers to the Secretary of Commerce
made by this section shall be deemed to include the transfer of authority, provided by law, to
prescribe regulations relating primarily to the transferred functions.
SEC. 2. Establishment of Administration. (a) There is hereby established in the
Department of Commerce an agency which shall be known as the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, hereinafter referred to as the "Administration."
(b) There shall be at the head of the Administration the Administrator of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, hereinafter referred to as the "Administrator." The
Administrator shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate, and shall be compensated at the rate now or hereafter provided for Level III of the
Executive Schedule Pay Rates (5 U.S.C. 5314).
(c) There shall be in the Administration a Deputy Administrator of the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice
and consent of the Senate, and shall be compensated at the rate now or hereafter provided for
Level IV of the Executive Schedule Pay Rates (5 U.S.C. 5315). The Deputy Administrator shall
perform such functions as the Administrator shall from time to time assign or delegate, and shall
act as Administrator during the absence or disability of the Administrator or in the event of a
vacancy in the office of Administrator.
(d) There shall be in the Administration a Chief Scientist of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and
consent of the Senate, and shall be compensated at the rate now or hereafter provided for Level V
of the Executive Schedule Pay Rates (5 U.S.C. 5316). The Chief Scientist shall be the principal
scientific adviser to the Administrator, and shall perform such other duties as the Administrator
may direct. The Chief Scientist shall be an individual who is, by reason of scientific education
and experience, knowledgeable in the principles of oceanic, atmospheric, or other scientific
disciplines important to the work of the Administration.
(e)(1) There shall be in the Administration a General Counsel and five Assistant
Administrators, one of whom shall be the Assistant Administrator for Coastal Zone Management
and one of whom shall be the Assistant Administrator for Fisheries. The General Counsel and
each Assistant Administrator shall be appointed by the Secretary, subject to approval of the
President, and shall be compensated at a rate now or hereafter provided for Level V of the
Executive Schedule Pay Rates (5 U.S.C. 5316).
(2) The General Counsel shall serve as the chief legal officer for all legal matters which
may arise in connection with the conduct of the functions of the Administration.
(3) The Assistant Administrator for Coastal Zone Management shall be an individual who
is, by reason of background and experience, especially qualified to direct the implementation and
administration of the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1451 et seq.).
(4) The Assistant Administrator for Fisheries shall be responsible for all matters related to
living marine resources which may arise in connection with the conduct of the functions of the
Administration.
(f) The President may appoint in the Administration, by and with the advice and consent
of the Senate, two commissioned officers to serve at any one time as the designated heads of two
principal constituent organizational entities of the Administration, or the President may designate
one such officer as the head of such an organizational entity and the other as the head of the
commissioned corps of the Administration. Any such designation shall create a vacancy on the
active list and the officer while serving under this subsection shall have the rank, pay, and
allowances of a rear admiral (upper half).
(g) Any commissioned officer of the Administration who has served under (d) or (f) and
is retired while so serving or is retired after the completion of such service while serving in a
lower rank or grade, shall be retired with the rank, pay, and allowances authorized by law for the
highest grade and rank held by him; but any such officer, upon termination of his appointment in
a rank above that of captain, shall, unless appointed or assigned to some other position for which
a higher rank or grade is provided, revert to the grade and number he would have occupied had
he not served in a rank above that of captain and such officer shall be an extra number in that
grade.
Sec. 3. Performance of transferred functions. The provisions of sections 2 and 4 of
Reorganization Plan No. 5 of 1950 (64 Stat. 1263) shall be applicable to the functions transferred
hereunder to the Secretary of Commerce.
SEC. 4 Incidental transfers. (a) So much of the personnel, property, records, and
unexpended balances of appropriations, allocations, and other funds employed, used, held,
available, or to be made available in connection with the functions transferred to the Secretary of
Commerce by this reorganization plan as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
shall determine shall be transferred to the Department of Commerce at such time or times as the
Director shall direct.
(b) Such further measures and dispositions as the Director of the Office of Management
and Budget shall deem to be necessary in order to effectuate the transfers referred to in
subsection (a) of this section shall be carried out in such manner as he shall direct and by such
agencies as he shall designate.
(c) The personnel, property, records, and unexpended balances of appropriations,
allocations, and other funds of the Environmental Science Services Administration shall become
personnel, property, records, and unexpended balances of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration or of such other organizational entity or entities of the Department of Commerce
as the Secretary of Commerce shall determine.
(d) The Commissioned Officer Corps of the Environmental Science Services
Administration shall become the Commissioned Officer Corps of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration. Members of the Corps, including those appointed hereafter, shall
be entitled to all rights, privileges, and benefits heretofore available under any law to
commissioned officers of the Environmental Science Services Administration, including those
rights, privileges, and benefits heretofore accorded by law to commissioned officers of the
former Coast and Geodetic Survey.
(e) Any personnel, property, records, and unexpended balances of appropriations,
allocations, and other funds of the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries not otherwise transferred
shall become personnel, property, records, and unexpended balances of such organizational
entity or entities of the Department of the Interior as the Secretary of the Interior shall determine.
SEC. 5. Interim officers. (a) The President may authorize any person who immediately
prior to the effective date of this reorganization plan held a position in the executive branch of
the Government to act as Administrator until the office of Administrator is for the first time filled
pursuant to provisions of this reorganization plan or by recess appointment, as the case may be.
(b) The President may similarly authorize any such person to act as Deputy Administrator
and authorize any such person to act as Associate Administrator.
(c) The President may similarly authorize a member of the former Commissioned Officer
Corps of the Environmental Science Services Administration to act as the head of one principal
constituent organizational entity of the Administration.
(d) The President may authorize any person who serves in an acting capacity under the
foregoing provisions of this section to receive the compensation attached to the office in respect
of which he so serves. Such compensation, if authorized, shall be in lieu of, but not in addition
to, other compensation from the United States to which such person may be entitled.
SEC. 6. Abolitions. (a) Subject to the provisions of this reorganization plan, the
following, exclusive of any functions, are hereby abolished:
(1) The Environmental Science Services Administration in the Department of Commerce
(established by Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1965, 79 Stat.1318), including the offices of
Administrator of the Environmental Science Services Administration and Deputy Administrator
of the Environmental Science Services Administration.
(2) The Bureau of Commercial Fisheries in the Department of the Interior (16 U.S.C.
742b), including the office of Director of the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries.
(b) Such provisions as may be necessary with respect to terminating any outstanding
affairs shall be made by the Secretary of Commerce in the case of the Environmental Science
Services Administration and by the Secretary of the Interior in the case of the Bureau of
Commercial Fisheries.
MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT
To the Congress of the United States:
I transmit herewith Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1970, prepared in accordance with
chapter 9 of title 5 of the United States Code. The plan would transfer to the Secretary of
Commerce various functions relating to the oceans and atmosphere, including commercial
fishery functions, and would establish a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the
Department of Commerce. My reasons for transmitting this plan are stated in a more extended
accompanying message.
After investigation, I have found and hereby declare that each reorganization included in
Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1970 is necessary to accomplish one or more of the purposes set
forth in section 901(a) of title 5 of the United States Code. In particular, the plan is responsive to
section 901 (a) (1), " to promote the better execution of the laws, the more effective management
of the executive branch and of its agencies and functions, and the expeditious administration of
the public business;" and section 901 (a) (3), "to increase the efficiency of the operations of the
Government to the fullest extent practicable."
The reorganizations provided for in the plan make necessary the appointment and
compensation of new officers as specified in section 2 of the plan. The rates of compensation
fixed for these officers are comparable to those fixed for other officers in the executive branch
who have similar responsibilities
The reorganization plan should result in the more efficient operation of the Government.
It is not practical, however, to itemize or aggregate the exact expenditure reductions which will
result from this action.
RICHARD NIXON
THE WHITE HOUSE,
July 9, 1970.
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