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MONDAY, APRIL 22, 2002

The federal government is no closer to fixing the broken Indian trust than it was seven years ago when Congress dictated numerous reforms, a senior Department of Interior official has told a small group of tribal leaders and outside advisers.

Even if the balances of accounts belonging to 300,000 American Indians and more than 300 tribes were correct today, there is no way to ensure their accuracy in the future, according to John Miller. Miller is a deputy in charge of policy within the Office of the Special Trustee, a department-level office charged with oversight of the $3.1 billion system.

"The major problem is," wrote Miller in a memo provided to advisers of Special Trustee Tom Slonaker, "we do not have a system that can fulfill the fiduciary responsibility now or in the future much less account for the past."

"[T]here is no system in place to accurately maintain the records," he continued. "In other words, the 'bleeding' would continue."

In a wide-ranging critique of the problems plaguing the Indian trust, Miller calls on the department to abandon efforts to "clean up" records belonging to Indian beneficiaries. While the documents have some historical value, he said, there is no way they can ever be complete.

"First, trying to fix the past is just prolonging it into the future," he wrote. "Second, even if the past records are restored to some semblance of order, the integrity of this data base is highly questionable.

But there are other factors hampering trust reform, according to Miller. Echoing similar complaints made by his boss, he blasts the department and its attorneys for litigating rather than governing.

"The DOI has no awareness of its fiduciary responsibility either on a legal or moral basis," he wrote. "Decisions are not based on what is best for the beneficiary but what best serves DOI and its decision makers."

Slonaker forwarded the complaints to his advisory committee, which is composed of representatives from both Indian Country and the private trust industry. In his April 12 cover letter, he said Miller "lays out for me an organizational approach which I believe is worthy of consideration."

The nine-member panel itself has called on the Indian trust to be taken away from the department. In the wake of criticism of Secretary Gale Norton's proposal to create a new bureau under her command, the committee last December endorsed an independent entity to oversee the system.

Miller doesn't go as far in describing the types of changes he says are needed to more reform forward. But his conclusions on the lack of progress the department has seen overall make a strong case for significant improvements.

"DOI should accept the reality of the situation," he said. "Nothing has happened since 1997 that solves the basic problem which is to properly account for the trust account activities of each beneficiary."

Get the Memo:
Miller to Special Trustee (4/19)

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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Report slams top trust reform officials (4/18)
Trust reform monitor kept intact (4/17)
The incredible shrinking Indian trust (4/15)
Norton makes demands on court (4/12)
Norton admits to erased e-mails (4/10)
Norton faces more scrutiny on trust fund (4/5)