WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Indian Health Board (NIHB) has named Anthony “A.C.” Locklear as its chief executive officer amid major upheaval in federal-tribal relations.

Locklear has been serving as interim executive of NIHB since August 2024. He was selected for the permanent position following a “comprehensive review of highly qualified candidates,” according to the nation’s largest inter-tribal health organization.

“A.C. Locklear has already shown remarkable leadership as Interim CEO, and we have full faith in his ability to lead NIHB into the future,” NIHB Board Chairman William “Chief Bill” Smith said in an April 4 news release. “His dedication to Tribal health and his vision for strengthening our organization will ensure that NIHB remains a powerful advocate for the health and well-being of our people.”

Locklear joined NIHB in August 2022 as the organization’s first-ever Director of Federal Relations. He is a citizen of the Lumbee Tribe, a state-recognized group in North Carolina.

“We look forward to the impact he will continue to make for Indian Country,” Smith, who also serves as vice chief of the Valdez Native Tribe in Alaska, said of Locklear.

Locklear has been advocating for tribal interests as President Donald Trump has called for drastic cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The cabinet-level agency includes the Indian Health Service (IHS), which carries out the federal government’s trust and treaty obligations to tribes and their communities.

“Tribal nations have a unique political relationship with the United States,” Locklear said in Congressional testimony in February. “Despite this, tribal communities remain underfunded and in health crisis.”

Following Trump’s orders, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on March 27 announced a “dramatic restructuring” of his department. He said that 10,000 employees will be terminated, a move that he claimed would occur “without impacting critical services.”

Kennedy’s announcement did not call for reductions in force at the IHS, which is already suffering from a 30 percent vacancy rate, Locklear said in his Congressional testimony. An accompanying fact sheet did not mention the agency at all.

But cuts elsewhere in HHS are already having an impact on tribal lives. According to a statement from NIHB, the Trump administration has canceled about $6 million in federal grants that support substance use disorder treatment, public health infrastructure and research in Indian Country.

Additionally, the NIHB said the Trump administration is eliminating employees serving tribes across HHS. The Healthy Tribes program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Center for Indigenous Innovation and Health Equity at the seemingly-defunct Office of Minority Health and the Center for Mental Health Services at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration have been targeted, according to the organization.

“While these programs have a minimal fiscal impact on the federal government, they are critical lifelines for addressing chronic health conditions that disproportionately harm Indian Country,” Smith said in an April 1 letter to Secretary Kennedy that called for tribal consultation on the restructuring.

“Without Tribal Consultation and meaningful input from Tribes, a widespread restructuring of HHS is likely to unintentionally impede the effectiveness of these programs and impinge the Government-to-Government relationship between the United States and Tribal Nations,” Smith continued.

According to Kennedy, who is meeting with tribal leaders this week as part of his “Make America Health Again” initiative, the cuts at HHS will save “taxpayers” $1.8 billion every year. He has not said where the money would be directed.

“Indian programs are chronically underfunded and cannot sustain programmatic cuts,” Locklear told the House Committee on Appropriations on February 27.

The IHS is currently funded at about $7 billion. Tribes and their advocates point out that the agency needs far more — at least $63 billion — for the U.S. government to meet its trust and treaty obligations.

“The Indian Health Service budget faces many pressures to meet the federal treaty and trust obligations to tribes in such a constrained financial environment,” Locklear said in his Congressional testimony. “Further recent administrative actions have impacted Indian health, threatened funding and staffing to meet these obligations.”

NIHB terminated its prior chief executive officer last August. According to Chief Smith, the board “lost confidence” in Stacy Bohlen, who had been with the organization for more than 20 years.

Bohlen, a citizen of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Michigan, subsequently sued NIHB in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. The complaint, filed on September 9, 2024, alleges discrimination based on gender at the organization.

The allegations have not played out in court proceedings so far. In December, the judge overseeing the case ordered the matter into arbitration, citing provisions in the employment contract between Bohlen and NIHB.

A March 14, 2025, hearing to discuss the status of arbitration was subsequently canceled. On the same day, a scheduling order was filed in court, potentially preparing the case for trial.

The case is Stacy A. Bohlen v. National Indian Health Board, No. 2024-CAB-005743. Documents can be found at portal-dc.tylertech.cloud/Portal.