Organization of a national forum and the development of a scientific plan for studies on global change are among the initiatives that the U.S. Committee on Global Change (CGC) is considering as a way of focusing U.S. efforts to assess anthropogenic changes in the global environment. The committee, which met for the first time at the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) on June 11—12, 1987, set out to determine the status of various national and international programs. The meeting also enabled the National Science Foundation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and other agency representatives to describe their past efforts and future plans and commitments toward a national global change program. Scientific organizations such as AGU and the Smithsonian Institution will probably be invited to take part in such a national forum and in the development of the scientific plan.