by Clara NiiSka

The Department of the Interior met with tribal officials at the Doubletree Hotel in Bloomington on Thursday, December 20^th.  The meeting is the second in a series with tribal leaders.  It was called after Interior Secretary Gale Norton, “the latest Interior secretary to try to straighten out the trust-funds mess … proposed a massive restructuring of the BIA.”  She reportedly “angered tribal leaders” by not consulting with them prior to unveiling her $300 million plan to restructure the BIA, according to St. Paul Pioneer staffwriter Nancy Ngo.

The December 20^th meeting between the DOI and tribal leaders was still in session when Press/ON went to press on Thursday morning.

The DOI’s proposed restructuring of the BIA resulted from a lawsuit over the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ management—and alleged mismanagement—of Indian trust funds.

The fallout from the lawsuit has also resulted in Indians’ checks drawn on federal trust funds being delayed.  BIA officials said on December 19^th that trust fund checks for Indians in Wisconsin and Minnesota will not be mailed to recipients until after Christmas.

According to the St. Paul Pioneer, the “BIA could not say how many people were affected or how much of the money was headed to Minnesota and Wisconsin.  Last December, $15 million in trust fund checks were issued nationwide.”  BIA trust funds checks include oil and gas royalty payments, mineral rights and land lease payments, and timber stumpage payments.

Based on a December 5, 2001 order from District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth, the Department of the Interior immediately disconnected “from the Internet all information technology systems that house or provide access to individual trust data.”  The DOI disconnected from the Internet, and in a December 6^th memo from Deputy Secretary Griles, assure its employees that “all inbound and outbound Internet network traffic should be unable to get through.”