BRIEFING ON TERRITORIAL MATTERS MONDAY, JANUARY 29, 1973 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON TERRITORIES AND INSULAR AFFAIRS The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m. in room 3110, Dirksen Building, Senator J. Bennett Johnston, Jr., presiding. Present: Senators Johnston, Fannin, Haskell, and Bartlett. Also present: Jerry T. Verkler, staff director; James H. Gamble, professional staff member; and Harrison Loesch, minority counsel. Senator JOHNSTON. Good morning. The Subcommittee on Territories is meeting this morning to receive a briefing from officials of the Department of the Interior on the territories of the United States. With this new 93d Congress, there have been numerous changes in committee assignments, and a few of us are undertaking responsibilities in areas with which we are not completely familiar. It was my feeling that it would be extremely helpful to all members of this subcommittee if we invited appropriate people from Interior to give us up-to-date information on the location of the territories, their governments, programs, and other pertinent matters concerning the relationship of the United States to the offshore areas. Later on, we will have a representative of the President's negotiating team give us the current status of U.S.-Micronesia political status talks, which have been underway for some time. I understand Mr. Stanley Carpenter, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Territorial Affairs, is prepared to speak first. Before you begin, Mr. Carpenter, the Chair would like to request that you furnish for the record the following information: 1. The text of the Guam and Virgin Islands Organic Acts as amended up to January 1973; 2. The trusteeship agreement between the United States and the United Nations relating to Micronesia; 3. All secretarial orders pertaining to the trust territory government and its congress; 4. The text of the constitution of American Samoa with all modifications thereto; and 5. The text of the constitution of Puerto Rico. [Subsequent to the hearing, Mr. Carpenter submitted the following letter:] Hon. J. BENNETT JOHNSTON, Jr., U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Chairman, Subcommittee on Territories and Insular Affairs, Committee on Interior and Ínsular Affairs, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. DEAR SENATOR JOHNSTON: During the course of the hearings before the Subcommittee on Territories and Insular Affairs, on January 29, 1973, a number of requests were made for background information on the territorial areas of the United States. We have assembled these materials and a complete set is enclosed with this letter. If you or the Members of the Committee desire additional information or answers to other questions for inclusion in the record, we would be more than happy to provide it. May I add that we appreciated the opportunity at the hearing to present you with a broad summary of our territorial programs, and that we look forward to working closely with you in the future on the many complex and sensitive issues affecting these areas. In this regard, we are most pleased that you have been able to get to the Trust Territory so quickly, and look forward to your visits to American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, and Guam. Sincerely yours, STANELY S. CARPENTER, [The material submitted by Mr. Carpenter is in the appendix.] Senator JOHNSTON. There may be additional material we should have in order that this briefing may be complete with regard to the territories. If so, we will appreciate your cooperating with the committee staff to that end. We are happy to welcome you here today, and you may proceed as you wish. Mr. CARPENTER. Mr. Chairman, it is indeed a distinct pleasure to appear before you and other members of your subcommittee to talk about our territories. I would like, with your permission, sir, to bring to the table some members of my staff, and I will introduce them as they come up. Senator JOHNSTON. Please do. Mr. CARPENTER. Mr. Whittington, who is a political and legislative officer for my staff; Mr. John de Young, who is a territorial officer concentrating on Guam, American Samoa, and the trust territory; Mr. Tom Dunn on my right, a territorial officer with particular reference to the Virgin Islands; Miss Janice Johnson, who is the education officer on my staff for the territories; and Mr. Richard Miller, who is the economic development officer. I should add we have two more members here, Mr. Fred Radewagen, who will be behind me, who is the staff coordinator, and we have a young American Samoan individual who has just joined the staff, who will be working with us as an intern for the next year, Mr. Maga. I am very pleased to have Mr. Maga here this morning. I have a written statement, Mr. Chairman, which I would like to read into the record with your permission. Senator JOHNSTON. Yes. STATEMENT OF STANLEY S. CARPENTER, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR TERRITORIAL AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, ACCOMPANIED BY THOMAS L. WHITTINGTON, FRED RADEWAGEN, JOHN E. deYOUNG, THOMAS F. DUNN, JANICE JOHNSON, AND RICHARD W. MILLER Mr. CARPENTER. My name is Stanley S. Carpenter, and since January 1972 I have served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Territorial Affairs at the Department of the Interior. It is a pleasure for me to appear before you today for the purpose of bringing you up to date on developments in the administration of our Nation's territorial areas, more specifically, Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. The past 2 years have been active ones indeed in these areas. I will try to cover the highlights in this statement, and will be pleased to attempt to answer any questions you or members of your committee may have. One of the important changes in the administration of territories has been in the reorganization of the territorial function itself within the Department of the Interior. The Office of Territories was in charge of territorial administration at the Washington level until July 1971, at which time it was abolished and replaced by the present Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Territorial Affairs. In structuring the new office, it was decided to eliminate separate personnel and fiscal functions, allowing these to be handled at the departmental level, and place increased emphasis upon program and policy guidance. Accordingly, the Office has been set up as a small staff which includes specialized experts in such fields as health and education, economic development, and political and legislative development. Senator JOHNSTON. Excuse me, Mr. Carpenter. We have two Congressmen here, Mr. Tony Won Pat from Guam and Mr. Ron de Lugo from the Virgin Islands, and I would like to ask them to come up and join us. You may proceed, Mr. Carpenter. Mr. CARPENTER. May I say, Mr. Chairman, that we on my staff are particularly pleased to have Mr. Won Pat and Mr. de Lugo, with whom we have been working in the past, as Members of Congress. The placing of my office within the Office of the Secretary has upgraded the status and effectiveness of policy guidance to our territorial areas by the Department. In addition, the Department is helping the territorial administrations by providing specialized assistance on a consultant basis in such areas as personnel, contract administration, and financial management. In summary, I believe this new organization has provided us with the wide degree of flexibility needed to meet our responsibilities for both policy and program guidance, and technical assistance. I should now like to discuss where we stand in carrying out our responsibilities in the territorial areas. First, with respect to the unincorporated territories of Guam and the Virgin Islands, the Department has extremely limited duties. These two areas are essentially self-governing as a result of legislation passed in the last 5 years. Each area elected its first Governor in 1970 as a result of a 1968 amendment to the Organic Act of each. This year, each is represented in Congress for the first time by a nonvoting Delegate to the House of Representatives. As a result of these changes, the respective Governors of the Virgin Islands and Guam are no longer directly responsible to the Secretary of the Interior, and the Department plays an extremely limited role in representing these two territories before the U.S. Congress and other Federal agencies in the executive branch. Indeed, the involvement of the Department in the internal affairs of these territories is basically limited to five statutory areas: The audit function of the Federal Comptroller of each territory, responsibility for submerged lands, the Virgin Islands Conservation Fund, the Virgin Islands Matching Fund, and the Guam Rehabilitation Act. As a result of this new relationship with Guam and the Virgin Islands, most of our assistance is in the nature of liaison with other Federal agencies and also serving as a contact point in Washington for the Governor and his staff. And we provide such support assistance, almost without exception, only when requested to do so by the territorial government. The Department's responsibilities with respect to American Samoa have not greatly changed in the past 2 years. although we are moving toward a period in which political development may be rapid. American Samoa is an unorganized and unincorporated territory of the United States, which is administered by a Governor appointed by the Secretary of the Interior. There is a local legislature and a high court, whose judges are also appointed by the Secretary. The territory is governed by Interior, pursuant to an Executive order of 1951, and has a locally adopted constitution which took effect in 1967. In the past several years, substantial progress has been made in the educational, social, and economic development of the territory. Increased Federal grant funds-$15 million in fiscal year 1973and local revenues have made possible the accelerated expansion of water systems, powerlines, roads, and sewers. The territory now has a vocationally oriented community college which has a current enrollment of over 500. New industries have been attracted to provide new jobs; Samoans now produce milk products, and assemble men's clothes and watches. Political development in the territory is also moving along steadily. As I mentioned, the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of American Samoa are presently appointed by the Secretary of the Interior. At the hearing last spring on the bills to make these two positions elective, Interior representatives supported the concept of local election, and stated that consideration would be given to making the necessary administrative and organizational arrangements to do So. |