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Friday, November 21, 2003

The head of the FBI spoke to the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) on Thursday, pledging to keep tribes involved in counter-terrorism efforts.

The keynote by Robert S. Mueller III was a first for NCAI, which is holding its annual convention in Albuquerque, New Mexico, this week. Never in the organization's 60-year history has an FBI director addressed the tribal leadership.

NCAI delegates applauded Mueller, a U.S. Marine who served in the Vietnam War, when he stressed the importance of Indian Country's involvement. Tribal governments play a vital role in protecting America's homelands, he said, citing reservations that straddle the Mexican and Canadian borders.

"While the FBI does not have primary responsibility for these border issues, we still have a responsibility and a necessity to include tribes ... in our national counter-terrorism efforts," he told the audience

But Mueller stopped short of calling for tribes to receive their fair share of billions of dollars in critical homeland security funds. Federal money flows only to state and local governments, forcing tribes to tap their own limited resources, and forcing them to compete for a smaller pool of funds.

Tribes are lobbying lawmakers and the Bush administration to correct the oversight, which occurred when the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was created in . Congress did not include provisions in the law to recognize the government-to-government relationship.

Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) has introduced a bill to put tribes in equal footing with states at the department but the measure is stalled amid concerns that other provisions will expand tribal jurisdiction over non-Indians.

This week, two Democratic presidential candidates promised to fix the problem if elected. Retired general Wesley Clark and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts supported direct homeland security funding for tribes. Kerry said he would create an Indian position at DHS.

For now, Mueller said the Department of Justice has created a working group to address homeland security concerns of tribal law enforcement. The group will make sure tribes receive the necessary intelligence to protect Indian communities, he said.

"As Americans we must all work together to protect our homeland," he told the delegates.

Despite the increased focus on counter-terrorism, Mueller said the FBI has not diminished its presence in Indian Country. "We have not cut back on our allocation and resources and our commitment," he said. More than 100 full-time special agents work on Indian lands, and they conducted more than 1,700 investigations last year, he noted.

Mueller did not respond to questions from members of the audience who voiced numerous complaints about the FBI. Lionel Bordeaux, the president of the Sinte Gleska University on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, blasted the FBI for failing to solve the 1997 murder of his daughter and her unborn child.

Joe Brooks, chief of the Delaware Tribe of Oklahoma, said requests for the FBI to get involved in the desecration of the tribal cemetery have gone unheard. On two separate occasions in the past 10 weeks, vandals have stolen, damaged and overturned grave markers.

A few women who did not identify themselves also said the FBI wasn't doing enough to protect Indian women, who suffer from domestic violence at the highest rates in the nation. An unidentified man from South Dakota called on the FBI to atone for its actions on the Pine Ridge Reservation in the 1970s. "Free Leonard Peltier," he chanted.

Related Stories:
Dean serves up Indian Country agenda at NCAI (11/20)
Tribal leaders press Bush administration on policy (11/19)
Democrats reach out to Indian Country at NCAI (11/18)
Tribes urged to join homeland security task force (10/22)
Tribes meet with Border Patrol on homeland security (10/08)
Bill's tribal jurisdiction provisions contested (07/31)
Tribes air homeland security concerns (7/30)
DOJ's Supreme Court brief backs sovereignty (7/30)
Tribal jurisdiction faces test before Supreme Court (07/03)
Homeland security push leaves tribes behind (05/12)
Inouye ties sovereignty to homeland security (02/25)

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