§ 51103. General authority of Secretary of Transportation
(a)
Education and Training.—
The Secretary of Transportation may provide for the education and training of citizens of the United States for the safe and efficient operation of the merchant marine of the United States at all times, including operation as a naval and military auxiliary in time of war or national emergency.
(b)
Surplus Property for Instructional Purposes.—
(1)
In general.—
The Secretary may cooperate with and assist the institutions named in paragraph (2) by making vessels, shipboard equipment, and other marine equipment, owned by the United States Government and determined to be excess or surplus, available to those institutions for instructional purposes, by gift, loan, sale, lease, or charter on terms the Secretary considers appropriate.
(2)
Institutions.—
The institutions referred to in paragraph (1) are—
(A)
the United States Merchant Marine Academy;
(B)
a State maritime academy; and
(C)
a nonprofit training institution jointly approved by the Secretary of Transportation and the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating as offering training courses that meet Federal regulations for maritime training.
(c)
Assistance From Other Agencies.—
(1)
In general.—
The Secretary of Transportation may secure directly from an agency, on a reimbursable basis, information, facilities, and equipment necessary to carry out this part.
(2)
Detailing personnel.—
At the request of the Secretary, the head of an agency (including a military department) may detail, on a reimbursable basis, personnel from the agency to the Secretary to assist in carrying out this part.
(d)
Academy Personnel.—
To carry out this part, the Secretary may—
(1)
employ an individual as a professor, lecturer, or instructor at the Academy, without regard to the provisions of title 5 governing appointments in the competitive service; and
(2)
pay the individual without regard to chapter
51 and subchapter
III of chapter
53 of title
5.