Dear Mr. Powell,

I am writing this with the utmost urgency and seriousness. Although I am only one person, as a United States Citizen and a firm believer in the Democratic Republic and the United States Constitution, I must do all I can to defend it's integrity and exercise my duty to express myself- in order to fulfill my pledge to you, so that you can be best equipped to perform your duty --as one of our State Leaders and Policy protectors.

I am writing specifically about a recent UNESCO Treaty Proposal which mandates that all signatory countries surrender their territorial jurisdiction and sovereignty over any and all man made items submerged in the sea, to an anonymous, unaccountable, singularly focused "Council" -whose very proposal suggests that all efforts made by ANY Country's efforts to recover or retrieve lost submerged items will be prohibited!

This is a dangerous and volatile 'nose of the camel' strategy aimed NOT at 'protecting and preserving' alleged 'non renewable historic artifacts' - as proclaimed-but a sweeping and abhorrent attempt to annihilate ANY private sector marine exploration and development and to destroy the future of ALL privately generated Underwater Exploration, intervention technology and recovery-world wide!

This flies in the face of everything I believe America, and the Free Enterprise system stands for and symbolizes. It threatens to criminalize and destroy the very essence of pioneering Spirit this Nation was founded upon. It is in my opinion, one of the most abusive, distorted and counterproductive misappropriations of UNESCO's authority, energies, talents, and organizational stature to date and this-in my opinion-should neither be tolerated nor subscribed to. The entire premise of this Treaty is based on a completely transparent, unsubstantiated, unjustified and non-verifiable set of suppositions- as proclaimed by anonymous and unaccountable individuals.

I would urge you to review the preamble of this treaty for a clear understanding of its diametrically opposing allegations versus it's implied solutions.

I have always supported the overall Mission and Purpose of UNESCO as an attempt to provide a Global cohesiveness to our ever continuing expansion of Science and Technology policy-PRIMARILY in areas that are considered "new territory" or previously uncharted. I CANNOT abide by this recent attempt to usurp and over throw basic and fundamentally vital EXISTING Rules of Law and well-established territorial sovereignty, which harbors and supports a valuable and well established culture and stream of commerce in nearly every coastal nation around the world, so that a small clique of politically focused socialists can -in essence-become the academic dictatorship.

History has taught us -via the wealth of PRIVATE SECTOR search and exploration-that sweeping global edicts from on high tend to create the opposite affect of what they were intended to impose. Take as a very appropriate example, the Papal Decree and 'arrangement' with the Spanish Empire.

Not only did this "from the highest sources" decree fail to assure Spain's success at ruling the high seas and everything on or in them--much less fail to quench it's unholy greed-it virtually guaranteed the ultimate demise of this major power, by forcing it's constituents and all others to rebel against what Everyman [and every other head of State] considered "highway robbery and Piracy" -the "Most powerful nation" in Europe was bankrupted from within by rampant non compliance and smuggling -which naturally led to terminal corruption. The parallel between The Spanish Empire's story and UNESCO's recent "archeological convention" is tragic and ironic. The message is clear. Do not allow history to be repeated here.

In summary I will repeat a statement I read recently about this issue. We as Americans, under our Constitutional laws, do not want to be a party to ANY UN Convention that will diminish this country's laws that have worked for two hundred years to protect the Free Enterprise System of this Country."

I hope I have done my duty as an American Citizen and have provided you Sir, with information of importance and substance. I pray that you will defend my rights - and others by refusing to subscribe to this UNESCO Convention.

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.
Most Sincerely,

Michele L. Wells
President, Founder
Sea One International Ltd.
"Advancing Marine Education Through Technology and Research"