The Bureau of Indian Affairs is transferring one of its regional directors from Alaska to the Midwest.

Niles Cesar, a member of the Tlingit-Haida Tribe, has served as director of the Alaska regional office in Juneau for 19 years. He will spend his 20th year at the Midwest regional office in Minneapolis before he retires from federal service.

The transfer comes after the Office of the Inspector General at the Interior Department blasted the Alaska office for mismanagement and lack of accountability. A February report said top officials wasted millions of dollars in Indian Reservation Roads Program money.

The Midwest office oversees more than 30 tribes in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and Michigan. The outgoing director is Terry Virden, a member of the White Earth Band of Chippewa Indians of Minnesota.

Get the Story:
BIA director cited for mismanagement to take over Midwest Region (The Circle 8/17)

OIG Report:
BIA Alaska Regional Indian Reservation Roads Program Rife with Mismanagement and Lacking Program Oversight (February 9, 2009)

Related Stories:
Report slams BIA roads program in Alaska (2/20)