Lessons Learned: Reorganization Rollout June 2003

FROM THE ARCHIVE

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TUESDAY, JULY 8, 2003

Still confused about what's going on at the Department of Interior? Well, you're not the only one.

After a slew of meetings held throughout Indian Country last month, there are still some questions about the reorganization of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the expansion of the Office of Special Trustee (OST). What's happening to Indian preference? Where's my check? Where's my land-into-trust application?

But thanks to Indianz.Com, you can enjoy the Top 10 Things Learned During the Reorganization Rollout. These lessons were culled from sessions we (or our spies) attended in Albuquerque, New Mexico (Southwest Region); Muskogee, Oklahoma (Eastern Oklahoma Region); Washington, D.C. (Central Office) and Anadarko, Oklahoma (Southern Plains Region), along with interviews of senior officials including Special Trustee Ross Swimmer and his testimony in the Cobell trial.

1. The reorganization won't happen overnight. Unless you're at the Anadarko or Concho agencies in the Southern Plains Region in Oklahoma. In that case, it's happening right now. OST already put out the feelers for two fiduciary trust officers for the agencies, which handle a significant portion of the Individual Indian Money (IIM) business, and expects to have them hired by October at the latest. Ross Swimmer says these agencies will be used to work out the bugs in the BIA-OST relationship. The trust officers for the other BIA agencies will be hired in 2004 and beyond based on a variety of factors.

2. The reorganization will happen in stages. This is the BIA's proposed order of implementation in regions: Southern Plains; Navajo; Pacific; Rocky Mountain; Northwest; Eastern Oklahoma; Western; Midwest; Great Plains; Eastern; Alaska; Southwest. This list is tentative and subject to changes but Southern Plains is definitely first.

3. Jobs will not be eliminated as a result of the reorganization. In fact, there will be new hires -- OST is getting most of them. Ross Swimmer is hiring six regional fiduciary trust administrators, a director for the Trust Management Program Center and a deputy for trust accountability. All of the job announcements have closed. Also, upwards of 80 trust officers will be hired over the coming years.

4. Jobs will not be eliminated as a result of the reorganization, Part II. But if you work for the BIA and belong to the elite senior executive service (SES), you have been reassigned. Acting assistant secretary Aurene Martin has directed her SESers to relocate to different parts of the country. For example, Southern Plains Regional Director Dan Deerinwater is headed to Albuquerque while Eastern Regional Director Franklin Keel is headed to Central Office. Bill Mehojah, director of the Office of Indian Education Program, is headed somewhere, but we don't know where yet. The only RD staying put is Eastern Oklahoma's Jeanette Hanna -- she's still relatively new in that post.

5. OST is developing a scholarship program. For all the students out there, OST will pay for your college education in exchange for your summers and an undetermined number of post-graduation years. It's just like a similar program that's been in place at the Indian Health Service for years.

6. Urban Indians exist! More than half of all American Indians and Alaska Natives live off-reservation but DOI has conveniently ignored this for decades. Until now. Since a considerable number of IIM beneficiaries live near Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Tulsa, Oklahoma and Rapid City, South Dakota; DOI is looking for ways to support these urban dwellers. There just might be a trust officer located near you.

7. Indian gaming decisions are political. That's according to Jerry Gidner, BIA chief of staff. Therefore, he concluded, the new deputy assistant secretary for economic development will be a political appointee (sans Senate confirmation) rather than a career bureaucrat (like the recently retired Jim McDivitt). In addition to Indian gaming, the deputy will oversee economic development, self-determination and self-governance.

8. The reorganization supports self-determination and self-governance. Except DOI can't explain how exactly. For example, through a self-governance compact, the Kaw Nation of Oklahoma handles IIM accounts. Can the tribe get its own trust officer? Can the tribe get extra funds to improve its beneficiary services? These questions are still being worked out, but when they are finally answered, it probably won't make tribe happy.

9. The "to-be" study of trust processes will improve services to tribes and individual Indians. Except for the single most important process: land-into-trust. It wasn't part of the "as-is" study and it won't be revamped under "to-be." For individual Indians, the single most important process is timely delivery of payments. This won't be tackled either, because the Minerals Management Service (MMS), OST and BIA aren't going away and will retain their role in the handling of checks.

10. Indian preference only applies to the BIA. Not to OST or the Assistant Secretary's Office. It used to apply to the Office of Trust Funds Management (OTFM), which was transferred intact from BIA to OST in 1996, but will no longer apply there. Why? Because a Solicitor said so. It used to apply to any entity transferred intact from BIA to the assistant secretary's office but that is being stopped to. Why? Because a Solicitor said so.

So where does it apply? To Terry Virden, the BIA director, and all of his direct reports, including the regional directors and the rest of the BIA staff.

What did you learn during the reorganization rollout? What do you wish you learned? Send us a note.

Relevant Documents:
New Assistant Secretary Organization | New BIA Organization | Old BIA

Relevant Links:
Office of Special Trustee - http://www.ost.doi.gov