Bureau of Indian Affairs head Dave Anderson says recent leadership changes in the Washington, D.C., office are not a "shakeup."

"It appears like it's a shakeup, but it's not," Anderson told the Associated Press. "I think the scuttlebutt comes from, I think in any administration when you have a new leader it's like a flock of geese when they're flying, that you always have a little turbulence, but the thing is that everybody is flying in the right direction."

Aurene Martin, the BIA's second-in-command, is resigning effective September 10. But because she has sought employment in the private sector, she has already recused herself from certain matters that Anderson had previously removed himself from.

Stepping in as principal deputy assistant secretary is Mike Olsen, a non-Indian lawyer who formerly worked for the House Resources Committee before joining the BIA in 2003 as a counselor to Martin.

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