"One of the problems that I found at BIA made the front page of the Arizona Republic, a major newspaper in Phoenix, Arizona, about a year after my being fired by the BIA. The newspaper had been investigating BIA for some time, as a result of many complaints from noth Indiands and other citizens. In October, 1987, they began a series of articles and editorials that were eventually reprinted in booklet form, titled Fraud in Indian Country, a Billion Dollar Betrayal.

"Editorials described BIA as the 'worst-managed agency in the whole U.S. Government,'and both of Arizona's Senators (DeConcini and McCain) had scathing comments about BIA that were quoted by the newspaper. Congressman Mike Synar, of Oklahoma, stated that rather than making substantive changes, the Interior Department often finds it 'easier to simply discredit the bearers of bad news about the BIA,' exactly the position I found myself in. The newspaper articles, among other things, reported that:

• Information fed into the agency's computer system is disorganized and erroneous.
• An estimated $5.8 billion has not been collected (since 1979) from companies that pump oil and gas from reservation lands, thus robbing Indians.
• In some cases, money that belonged to individual Indians and tribes was deposited in slush funds through accounts set up under phony names.
• There are thirty recent incidents in which federal employees were allegedly involved in theft, embezzlement and fraud on Indian reservations, yet few were prosecuted.
• BIA sponsored Indian programs failed to improve the economies of reservations, and BIA failed to provide quality education for Indian children.
• Housing programs are riddled with scandal, and housing in many areas is shockingly substandard.
• Indian health remains poor, with diabetes reaching epidemic proportions on some reservations.
• The BIA cannot manage its own money, or account for millions in equipment and supplies."

Stealing From Indians - Inside the Bureau of
Indian Affairs, an Expose of Corruption,
Massive Fraud and Justice Denied...
by David L. Henry

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GAO BIA Report

Rogue Bureaucracy

Although revenues for any individual Indian from oil are quite small, they constitute a desperately needed source of income to Indian citizens with an unemployment level which averages 25 percent and reaches 85 percent in some areas. Cass Peterson broke the story "Indians Are Being Denied Millions in Oil, Gas Royalties" on May 25, 1985. She detailed a situation that affects "more than 250,000 Indians or tribal governments" (out of about 1.5 million Indian U.S. citizens). Mike Synar (D-OK), said "If it's not a scandal, it's one of the worst cases of mismanagement I've ever come across."

300,000 Thousand Indians Sue The Federal Government...

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Bureau of Indian Affairs Loses Track of 2.4 billion

In response to the Associated Press Article about missing billions in BIA trust accounts, I am the former BIA employee (and CPA-auditor) who first uncoverd and reported this mess in my assigned audit reports in 1986, yes, that is ten years ago. I was of course fired as a way of silencing me on that subject, and have been "blowing the whistle" every since.

That the money "isn't necessarily missing" is not correct, there are hundreds of millions of dollars missing, perhaps as much as the current balance of two billion.

I have written a book on this subject, which recently became available at the First Nations site.

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Bury My Heart In Committee

"...the government spends $2,600 a year for the average American's health, but the average for Indians is only $1,300."

"With only 1,500 units for the reservation's [Pine Ridge] 26,000 people, tribal officials estimate that an average of 17 people are crammed into each dwelling."

"1,800 families have been officially designated as 'in need of housing.' Yet the only money available for building is $285,000 derived from federal Tribal Priority Allocation accounts, which probably will not even stretch to cover this year's 700 requests for weatherproofing."

Bureau of Indian Affairs Funding Cuts (1996)

It will be necessary to reduce nearly 2,000 jobs in the Bureau, with the majority of those jobs involved in providing services to tribes that have chosen not to contract or compact for those functions and fulfilling inherent federal functions for all tribes at the tribe/agency level.

Join the campaign to hold the Bureau of Indian Affairs accountable...