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Security update notes little progress
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2002

Last updated: 6:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

The court investigator in the Individual Indian Money (IIM) class action today released his second status report on the information technology shutdown at the Department of Interior.

In the report, special master Alan Balaran says the department and its lawyers have a "fundamental misunderstanding" of how they are to work with a federal court on the shutdown. Department of Justice attorney Sandra Spooner had told U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth last week that she was frustrated with the negotiations with his court.

In particular, Spooner said she did not "envision" that Balaran would double check the work of the department. But Balaran says the Interior should have expected that its claims should be investigated.

"Given its disgraceful legacy protecting Indian trust data, Interior could not realistically have envisioned that the Special Master would not exhaust every reasonable avenue to assure himself and the Court that Indian trust data was as secure as present circumstances allow," Balaran wrote.

Balaran also notes that the department made no requests to restart any computer systems for more than a month. After initial requests made on December 17 and December 21, the Interior waited until January 24 to seek permission on additional information technology systems.

Balaran reports that he has hired IBM as his security expert.

Balaran's first status report was released January 15.

Get the Reports:
Second Status Report of the Special Master (2/5) | First Status Report of the Special Master (1/15)

Today on Indianz.Com:
Interior security funds outlined (2/5)

Relevant Links:
Indian Trust, Department of Interior - http://www.doi.gov/indiantrust
Indian Trust: Cobell v. Norton - http://www.indiantrust.com
Trust Reform, NCAI - http://130.94.214.68/main/pages/
issues/other_issues/trust_reform.asp

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