Edward Johnson Director of Strategic Planning & Policy National Weather Service July 25, 2006

1. NOAA Partnership Policy Advisory Committee AlternativesA Presentation to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Science Advisory Board (SAB) Edward Johnson Director of Strategic Planning & Policy National Weather Service July 25, 2006

2. Outline • Purpose • Issues • Background • NOAA Partnership Policy • Selected Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) Basics • NOAA use of FACAs • NOAA Coordination and Views • Desired Outcome (14 slides in briefing; links to 17 backup slides) Edward Johnson

3. Purpose Request SAB advice on best way to establish advisory body on NOAA environmental information services Edward Johnson

4. Issues • Key external stakeholders want • Forum to bring enterprise together • More influence on NOAA • External stakeholders provided draft statutory language to NOAA authorizers • SAB should be consulted because: • Broadest charter of NOAA FACAs • Any change likely to affect SAB Edward Johnson

5. NOAA Partnership Policy (1) Policy on Partnerships in the Provision of Environmental Information: • Responds to National Research Council (NRC) report, “Fair Weather: Effective Partnerships in Weather and Climate Services” • Applies to provision of all NOAA environmental information services Edward Johnson

6. NOAA Partnership Policy (2) • Improves effectiveness of “environmental information enterprise” composed of “partnership” among public, private, and academic sectors • Defines NOAA responsibility to foster growth of environmental information enterprise • Describes ad hoc use of existing FACA committees and NOAA commitment to other (i.e. non FACA) advisory mechanisms Edward Johnson

7. NOAA Partnership Policy (3) • Indicates NOAA’s “willingness to consider creating a standing advisory body to support the NOAA partnership policy” (Jan 06 clarification) http://www.noaa.gov/partnershippolicy/ Edward Johnson

8. Selected FACA Basics • FACA committees can be established by statutory, Presidential, or agency authority • Membership must be “fairly balanced in terms of the points of view represented and the functions to be performed” • Members serve in an expert (e.g. on SAB) or in a representational capacity • Federal agency officials • Can serve on FACA committees • Can’t serve on NRC panels Edward Johnson

9. NOAA use of FACAs (1) NOAA’s 10 FACA committees • Science Advisory Board (SAB) • Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing (ACCRES) • Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee (MAFAC) • Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee (MPAFAC) • Hydrographic Services Review Panel (HSRP) • Sea Grant Review Panel (SGRP) • Climate Change Science Program Products (4) National Research Council (NRC) Edward Johnson

10. NOAA use of FACAs (2) • Little or no overlap with “partnership” issue: • ACCRES, MAFAC, MPAFAC, and SGRP • Others have significant overlap, BUT • HSRP established by statutory authority and thus difficult to change • Each CCSP Product FACA (4) highly focused on one product and of limited duration • SAB has limited representation of information service providers and users • NRC has limits on federal agency participation Edward Johnson

11. NOAA Coordination • NRC’s “Fair Weather” published (Jan 03) • NOAA partnership policy issued (Dec 04) • NOAA partnership policy clarification (Jan 06) • NOAA Executive Council decision to seek SAB advice (Apr 06) Edward Johnson

12. NOAA Views (1) • Status quo (continued ad hoc use of existing advisory mechanisms) is not acceptable • NOAA wishes to maintain the effectiveness of existing advisory mechanisms • Address all NOAA environmental information services, not just the NRC recommendation (only NWS weather and climate services) Edward Johnson

13. NOAA Views (2) • NOAA does not rule out any approach, including, for example: • More assertive use of existing NOAA FACA committees and/or NRC, • Changing the structure and/or re-chartering existing NOAA FACA committee(s), • Creating a new FACA committee, or • Some combination of approaches Edward Johnson

14. Desired Outcome SAB decision to form working group to advise NOAA on best way to establish advisory body on NOAA environmental information services Edward Johnson

15. Backup Slides • Non-FACA advisory mechanisms (16) • Brief description of NOAA FACAs (17 – 27) • Brief description of NOAA use of NRC (28) • Drafting Terms of Reference (29 - 31) Return Edward Johnson

16. Non-FACA Advisory Mechanisms Advisory mechanisms outside FACA include: • Conferring with colleagues • Participation in conferences and other meetings organized by professional and trade associations • Meetings NOAA organizes (“Stakeholder”/ “Partner”) • Actively seeking comments from those affected by changes in NOAA information services • Advisory mechanisms inside federal government Edward Johnson

17. Science Advisory Board (SAB) • Agency Authority • Advises NOAA leadership “on long- and short-range strategies for research, education, and application of science to resource management and environmental assessment and prediction.” • Maximum 15 members selected to cover NOAA scientific disciplines (not users / economic sectors) Edward Johnson

18. Science Advisory Board (SAB) SAB Standing Work Groups • Climate Work Group • NOAA Ocean Exploration Program Advisory Working Group • Data Archive and Access Requirements (new) Edward Johnson

19. Science Advisory Board (SAB) SAB ad hoc Work Groups • Hurricane Intensity Research Review Working Group • External Review of NOAA’s Ecosystem Research and Science Enterprise • Extension, Outreach, and Education (new) • Socio-Economic Work Group (new) Edward Johnson

20. Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing (ACCRES) • Agency authority • Advises NOAA on licensing of private remote sensing space systems under the Land Remote Sensing Policy Act of 1992 • Land Remote Sensing Policy Act explicitly excluded from partnership policy scope Edward Johnson

21. Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee (MAFAC) • Agency authority • Oldest NOAA advisory committee (1971) • Advises National Marine Fisheries Service regarding NOAA’s fisheries management responsibilities. • Minimal overlap with the NOAA partnership policy, which contains specific language excluding NOAA’s regulatory programs Edward Johnson

22. Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee (MPAFAC) • Presidential authority • Executive Order 13158 (Clinton, May 2000) established Marine Protected Areas and called on Department of Commerce to create MPAFAC • Minimal overlap with the NOAA partnership policy, which contains specific language excluding NOAA’s regulatory programs Edward Johnson

23. Hydrographic Services Review Panel (HSRP) • Statutory authority (Public Law 107-372) • Established in 2002 to advise NOAA Administrator on all authorities related to hydrographic surveys • Scope includes provision of maps, charts, and other hydrographic information AND data collection, operations, and R&D Edward Johnson

24. Hydrographic Services Review Panel (HSRP) • Scope overlaps partnership policy (for provision of hydrographic information), but also extends into matters outside partnership policy (acquisition and use of hydrographic information) • Creation by statute makes changes difficult • Any “partnership” FACA committee should recognize, and avoid conflict with, HSRP Edward Johnson

25. Sea Grant Review Panel (SGRP) • Statutory authority (33 U.S.C. 1128) • Established in 1976 to advise the Secretary of Commerce, the Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere (NOAA), and the Sea Grant Director (NOAA) on the direction, operations, and performance of the National Sea Grant College Program. • No overlap with partnership policy Edward Johnson

26. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) Products) • Agency authority • NOAA has established a FACA committees for each of four CCSP Synthesis and Assessment Products • Scope highly focused on specific CCSP product Edward Johnson

27. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) Products) • CCSP 1.1 (“Temperature trends in the lower atmosphere – steps for understanding and reconciling differences”) • CCSP 1.3 (“Reanalyses of historical climate data for key atmospheric features. Implications for attribution of causes of observed change.”) • CCSP 3.3 (“Climate extremes including documentation of current extremes.”) • CCSP 5.3 (“Decision support experiments and evaluations using seasonal to interannual forecasts and observational data.”) Edward Johnson

28. NOAA’s use of NRC • National Research Council (NRC) is operating arm of National Academy of Sciences (NAS) • NAS recognized in special section of FACA • NOAA’s typical use of NRC is for focused studies undertaken by an ad hoc NRC committee, but NOAA sets scope and duration of studies • NRC Committees can’t include federal officials as full participants who set agenda, write reports, or review findings and recommendations (Traces to FACA) Edward Johnson

29. Drafting Terms of Reference (1) • Charge: How should NOAA implement Fair Weather report recommendation #2, but with expanded scope? (see next slide) • NOAA can provide: • Technical expertise on FACA • Access to Designated Federal Official (DFO) of each NOAA FACA committee • NOAA partnership policy expertise Edward Johnson

30. Drafting Terms of Reference (2) Fair Weather Recommendation #2 with Expanded Scope The NWS NOAA should establish an independent advisory committee to provide ongoing advice to it on weather and climate environmental information matters. The committee should be composed of users of weather and climate data environmental information and representatives of the public, private, and academic sectors, and it should consider issues relevant to each sector as well as to the set of players as a group, such as (but not limited to) • improving communication among the sectors, • creating or discontinuing products, • enhancing scientific and technical capabilities that support the NWS NOAA mission, • improving data quality and timeliness, and • disseminating data and information. Edward Johnson

31. Drafting Terms of Reference(3) • How big is this job? • SAB has a role in setting scope • Open community input needed • NOAA envisions small SAB working group active for 6-9 months, then final report to NOAA Edward Johnson