tigation of water resources needs to be included as a goal of Theme 3. Another important issue is how CMGP studies integrate with those of the Minerals and Energy Resources Program in the GD.

Information and Technology (Theme 4) and the four subthemes in it address a series of infrastructure issues rather than a scientific or environmental theme. It focuses on the responsibility of the CMGP to manage the information and data that are collected and to disseminate them in a form of use to the public and to policy-and decisionmakers. This theme addresses the operational objectives of the GD, which were put in place to improve the usefulness and accessibility of information and to promote the flexibility and vitality of the staff. The six operational objectives are:

• Greatly enhance the public's ability to locate, access, and use GD maps and data;

• Maintain a first-rate earth-system library;

• Effectively transfer the knowledge acquired through GD science activities;

• Promote vitality and flexibility of the scientific staff;

• Promote interdisciplinary research; and

• Institute internal and external reviews.

Clearly, information management and dissemination, maintenance of scientific instrumentation, and access to platforms represent important functions of CMGP that must be maintained as a critical operational component of the program. However, the committee recommends that the themes and subthemes should be limited to scientific and environmental issues in the coastal and offshore regions.