four fundamental objectives: (1) protecting the relatively unspoiled environment of Antarctica and its associated ecosystems, (2) preserving and pursuing unique opportunities for scientific research to understand Antarctica and global physical and environmental systems, (3) maintaining Antarctica as an area of international cooperation reserved exclusively for peaceful purposes, and (4) assuring the conservation and sustainable management of the living resources in the oceans surrounding Antarctica. An April 1996 report, U.S. Antarctic Program, by the President's National Science and Technology Council, directed the establishment of the present Panel and reaffirmed that essential elements of U.S. national and scientific interests are well served by continued involvement in scientific activity in the Antarctic as carried out by the U.S. Antarctic Program. The report states that policies in the 1982 memorandum continue to be appropriate at the current funding level and that present U.S. policy and practice with respect to the U.S. Antarctic Program are well justified. Background Early U.S. expeditions to Antarctica The first Americans to work in the Antarctic were sealers and whalers who discovered many sub-Antarctic islands. They were first to explore parts of the great peninsula jutting out of the Antarctic mainland toward South America. Among them was Nathaniel Palmer, who was among the first to see Antarctica, while on board the Hero in 1820, though historians have not settled the question of who discovered Antarctica. James Eights, a geologist from Albany, New York, became the first U.S. scientist to work in Antarctica. In 1830, aboard the Annawan, Eights made investigations in the South Shetland Islands and westward along the Antarctic Peninsula. Expeditions sponsored by several nations approached the Antarctic continent early in the 19th century. Among the leaders was Charles Wilkes, a U.S. Navy lieutenant who commanded an expedition in 1839–40 that was the first to prove the existence of the continent. His expedition mapped about of the Antarctic coastline in the Indian and Australian quadrants. In 1928–1930 and 1933–1935, Admiral Richard E. Byrd led two privately sponsored expeditions, one that included the first flight over the South Pole in 1929, sparking U.S. interest in Antarctica. The U.S. Antarctic Service Expedition (1939–1940), under the leadership of the U.S. Navy, maintained bases at Marguerite Bay and Bay of Whales. Operation Highjump in 1946–1947 was the largest single expedition ever to explore Antarctica, involving 13 naval vessels, numerous airplanes and more than 4,700 men. The next year, the Navy's Operation Windmill used