"Sadly, at the same time that historic attempts are being made to breathe the spirit of openness and transparency into the actions of Native American tribal governments, an effort is under way to curtail access to information in the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs.

A section of a bill adopted by the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs would impede access to information about actions taken by the head of the BIA on Indian groups' petitions for recognition.

A letter sent to committee members Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., and Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawaii, by public-information advocates said the measure was approved to allay BIA worries that "the extent, frequency and duplicative nature of FOIA requests" were creating a backlog."

Get the Story:
BIA should be forced to open tribal recognition case files (The Tucson Citizen 8/3)

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BIA recognition decision database now online (07/16)