WATCHDOG PLAN ON RESEARCH SEEN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP66B00403R000300220004-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 20, 2014
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: August 16, 1963
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/02/20: CIA-RDP66B00403R000300220004-2
THE WASHINGTON DAILY NEWS, FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 19639
Congressmen Are Wondering
Watchdog Plan on
By WALTER WINGO ?
Science Service Staff Writer
Congressmen are won-
dering how they can in-
vestigate overlapping in
Government - supported
science projects without
engaging in a lot of over-
lapping themselves.
The House RulesCommit-
tee is considering several bills
to set up a special five-man
committee to check how .
Government money is spent
for research. But even the
bills' sponsors admit such a
body would tread on grounds
already reserved and, to some
extent, occupied by estab-
lished committees.
These committees include
Armed Services, Science and
Astronautics, Agriculture, Ap-
propriations, Government Op-
erations and Atomic Energy.
TOO VAST
Rep. Chet Holifield (D.,
Calif.), chairman of the Mili-
tary Operations sub-commit-
tee and vice chairman of the
Joint Committee on Atomic
Energy, thinks the job of
overseeing research projects
should be left to the com-
mittees originally charged
with the job.
Overseeing $14.4 billion in
research grants is too vast
and complex a task for any
five congressmen and a has-
tily organized staf f, Rep.
Holifield said. The bills would
require the special committee
to report "any deficiencies"
in research before September,
1964.
Rep. Carl Elliott (D., Ala.),
a Rules Committee member
who sponsored one of the
bills, said someone must
start co-ordinating research
projects, since Government
outlays for them have been
increasing at the rate of a
billion dollars a year for the
past 10 years.
At the opening of hearings
on the bill, Rules Committee
chairman Howard W. Smith
(D., Va.) engaged in a pop-
ular sport among some con-
gressmen?poking fun at the
titles of research projects
backed by the National Sci-
ence Foundation.
He mentioned "fishing
trips" to study Venezuelan
shellfish and Pacific crabs,
Research Seen
and studies of- the evolution
of box turtles, t h e protein
structure in birds, and the bi-
ology of birds and butter-
flies. He also pointed out
that $64,000 had been grant-
ed for studying "resistance
to persuasion."
QUIP
'I thoughl Adam and Eve
settled that question long
ago," Smith Rep. quipped.
"Many of us scoff at the
things in science, because we
don't understand t h e m,"
countered chairman George
P. Miller (D., Calif.) of the
Science and Astronautics
Committee, a strong oppon-
ent of the bills.
"Often things that seem
trivial to us are the very
things scientists use to re-
lieve human pain and pro-
long human life."
.4?
,
Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/02/20: CIA-RDP66B00403R000300220004-2