IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ) ELOUISE PEPION COBELL, et aL, ) ) No. 1:96CV01285 (RCL) Plaintiffs, ) v. ) ) GALE A. NORTON, Secretary of ) the Interior, et !j, ) ) Defendants. ) ___________________________________________________________________________) NOTICE OF FILING OF SEPTEMBER 2005 STATUS REPORT BY THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFICE OF TRUST RECORDS The Department of the Interior Office of Trust Records hereby submits its status report for activity in September 2005. A copy of the report is attached hereto. Dated: October 17, 2005 Respectfully submitted, ROBERT D. McCALLUM, Jr. Associate Attorney General PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General STUART E. SCHIFFER Deputy Assistant Attorney General J. CHRISTOPHER KOHN Dir ector /s/ Timothy E. Curley ROBERT E. KIRSCHMAN, Jr. (D.C. Bar No. 406635) Assistant Director TIMOTHY E. CURLEY (D.C. Bar No. 470450) Trial Attorney Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Mailing address: P.O. Box 875 Ben Franklin Station Washington, D.C. 20044-0875 Phone (202) 307-3242 Fax(202) 514-9163 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certif!y that, on October 17, 2005 the foregoing Notice of Filing of September 2005 Status Report by the Department of the Interior Office of Trust Records was served by Electronic Case Filing, and on the following who is not registered for Electronic Case Filing, by facsimile: Earl Old Person (Pro se) Blackfeet Tribe P.O. Box 850 Browning, MT 59417 Fax (406) 338-7530 Kevin P. Kingston Kevin P. Kingston Oct-1T-2C'!5 24:O?p! From- T-Z13 P OOZ/DCS F-397 ACTiVITY REPORT OFFICE OF TRUST RECORDS September 1 -30, 2005 As reported in the Status Report to the Court Number Eleven, the line authority for supervision and management of the Office of Trust Records (OTR) was vested in the Assistant Deputy Secretary by the Deputy Secretary by memorandum dated September 5, 2002. On September 30, 2005, the memorandum was rescinded by the Associate Deputy Secretary. Accordingly, effective October 1, 2005, OTR reports to the Chief Information Officer, Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (051). PROGRA1!1MATIC: * Labat-Anderson (Labat Indexing Project) Labat reported that 2,519 boxes of inactive Indian records were completed in September 2005. The total number of boxes completed through September 2005 is approximately 124,325. * Movement of Records The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and OST moved approximately 1,560 boxes of inactive records from various field locations to Lenexa, Kansas for indexing and subsequent storage at the American Indian Records Repository (AIRR) during this reporting period. In the OTR Activity Report for August, OTR reported that approximately 2,740 boxes were moved from BIA and OST field locations. The number of boxes moved in August was approximately 2,885 boxes. * Boxes Requiring Preservation and/or Remediation NAXA completed the review and cleaning of the contents of the 283 boxes (inadvertently referred to as 285 in the August monthly report). There are approximately 30 boxes which NARA has detennined will require thrther care. These boxes were previously exposed to fire and water. It is anticipated that these boxes will receive further attention in the next reporting period. * Records Retention Schedules The following five BIA electronic records schedules were sent to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) for appraisal and approval on September 29, 2005: the Management Accounting and Distribution System, Keyfile System, Great Lakes Agency Database System, Alaska Title Plant Database, and Land Title Mapper. 1 Oct-17-2105 C4:OTom !r!- T-213 P 003/308 F-397 * Site Assessments OTRA conducted one follow-up site assessment for the Chippewa-Cree Triba In addition, OTRA issued eight final records assessment reports. For BIA agencies they were: Pine Ridge, Coiville, Pima, Yakama, Rosebud and Central California, as well as final records reports for Yakama OST field office and Lummi Tribe. * Records Training OTR did not conduct records management training in September. * Equipment No fireproof filing equipment was delivered in September. * Records Evaluations - Accession #MO0-03-S001 The 3 1 boxes continue to remain with OTR pursuant to a litigation hold. Once the boxes are released, OST can cany out its plans to verify whether any potential records in the boxes are also filed at the field office. The boxes continue to be stored at the if Street warehouse. * Litigation Support arid Research Requests OTR continued to provide litigation support in research of records for tribal trust litigation cases including the Shoshone-Bannoclc Tribes of Ft. Hall. OTR continued to provide significant support to the Office of Historical Trust Accounting and its contractors, and the Department of Justice and its contractors. AIRR staff provided responses to approximately 230 research requests from BIA and OST. * Records at the National Archives The Assistant Deputy Secretary faxed OTR a copy of a letter dated September 28, 2005, from NARA's Director of Litigation, Office of the General Counsel, to Dennis Gingold, Esq. A copy of the September 2gth letter is attached. ADMINISTRATIVE: General administrative activities continued. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS: None. 2 Oct-l7-2!O5 04:QTom From- 1-213 P CO4I!DB F-397 ! !S2.tI L"!2'Z$!tJ!0 Din ZA,!A! u.! n.at!c x 001 Ucfrl42Di! !a:a!m From- T-W9 p.!B9/!oa F-aU I d&.iarc under pcAaity ofpnjwy th! the foreEbin! irtnse and correct to The best of my knowledge, itilbimatien and belic!. I ss flo a in!on on The consctt of the Site Assessthettt sUb Kcflon deictibed abo!Jt C!!j jr\a,a!!/ LthelJ.Ab U I declareunder penalty of pes!ury that th4 coixtezits Ott Silt Assessments subsect'n des!ñbed above is true and correct to the best of my oowledge, tnfonnstion and beliet I tcptess no opinion on the eaments of o4im sections!subseclinns of the report. Lords Acting Dire etor, OThce of tnist 3.eview and Ajxiit Oct-!7-2005 04:OTpm from- 1-213 P OC5/e!8 F-397 National Archives and Records Administration 860) Adc)phiPoad Co1legc! Park, Mwy/ond 2074 0-6001 Tcil. 3V1.!37-)4S9 Fax 301.E37-0293 Email; jtscr.baxon@narL!OV September 28. 2005 !LE!simile!.,202-Sl 8-2372 Dennis Gingold. Esq. 607 14th ! N.W. Box 6 Washington. D.C. 20005 Re: Cobeit v. Norton Dear Dennis: I am whting to provide you with an update aboLl the matters that we discussed in our t&epflofle conversation on Wednesday, Se2tember 21! 2005, concerning the recent series of what appear to be several unsuccessful attempts at improper disposal of records at the Nationa] Archives. See my letter dated september13. 2005, tO lnteñor Assistant Deputy Secretary HaspeL I base the following update on specific information that NARA's Office of Inspector General (IG) has provided me arid on my own research into the incidents, including viewing the recovered records. As told you overtheteephcne on Septembe!2l. NAR!As IG is presently conducting an investigation into a series of incidents that have occurred over the past three weeks, involving what appear to be The attempted disposal of various type:; of permanent records of differert federa' agencies, nc!udng the Deparimonts of Interior and Veterans Affairs, that were stored in the stacks at the Main Archives Building in downtown Washington. D.C. It appears that, in each of the incidents under investigaUon, an attempt was made to improperly dispose of record and non- record materials in various trash baskets (or in boxes designated as trash) located within restricted areas of the building. In the first incident on September 1. after a NARA staffer noticed the records n a trash basket, NAR.A staff found and recovered !ddi1ional records in a dumpster arid trash compactor (also located in a restricted area of the Main Archives Building). Since Saptember 1 there appears to have been as many as six additional attempted di!.pcsat incidents. ah of which are cur:enlly under investiaation by our 1G. 25' S4 Z(J!4 f w1jsit! is ! tc,- Oct-I7-fl5 04:0iij! From- 1-fl] P 036/008 f-39T Letter to Dennis Gingold. Esq. September 28, 2005 Page 2 A point that I made durng our September 21 telephone conversation bears çe- emphasis: these atempter! disposal incidents Thvj!ve federal agency records that have passEd into both the physical and legal custody of the National Archives, as the permanent records of the United States. NeTher Secretary Norton nor any other -- agency headt ntro!ste-pres'eNatrOfltf stch-re!ordscAcCOr&rY9iYrlt s!N.ARA!S - -- - - responsibility to ensure. among other things, thai a proper and thorough criminal investigation into the incidents proceeds apace and tnat all reascnabte steps are taken to maintain the continued integrity of NARA's permanent record holdings. It is important to note that the person or persons responsible for these attempted disposal incidents has not or have not focused solely on the records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (B!A) or of the Interior Department. Rather, it appears thatthe perpetlator(s! of the acticis randomly removed records that either were being worked on as part of NARAs 'preser-vation procassing." or that were otherwise easily available (Le., withn easy reach) on the slacks of the Main Archives Building. It is also rnpodant to note that some of what has been recovered consists of "non- recor& materials, such as old, empty file jackets (fronts and backs); old, empty folders; out caros, and empty envelopes. Based on currently availzibe information, the NARAs IG has recovered the following record and non-record materials in connection with the attempted dsposal incidents. The materials are lsted below in descending order of volume. The listing is not intended to be comprehensive. DeparUr!enf of Veterans Affairs . Over 3,030 VA Form "40-1330s" (appUcations for a headstone or marker) Department olt/ie Inter/cr * One entire file (cover and 105 pages) marked "B!ackfeet," dated 1946. consisting of an Annual Credit Report ci the Northern Piains lnthan Crafts Association * Various partat files from the Consolidated Chippewa tribe (elA Record Group 75), drca lS4Os and 1950s, includ!ng timber sales contracts and corresponde4nce. heirship files, recaipts icr fee/trust patents, transmittais of patents (approx. 200 pages of record material in different boxes) * Numerous ide covers and other assorted nonrecord file jackets and empty folders assr!ciated for the Consolidated Chippewa tribe * One bound volume of Bureau of Land Management "Letters re Surveyors General,' dated March 13-April 16 i883 SEF-23-2!5 2C:S! . - !r' !X" *! At,r,:,,ww!varcAivEcgQ%' Qct-'T-2005 04:OBpn Froier 1-213 P OOT/009 F-as! Letter to Dennis Gingold. Esq. September 28, 2005 Page 3 * One file consisting of Flathead Agency oars for the purchase of and circa 1950 * Two fifes conststing of Billings area oFfice correspondence circa 1957 ---.--.- - * Bound volume of the U.S. Army Con:inental Command, 1621-!20, Whipple Barracks Area War Depariment * One page of War Department ccrreEpondeflte dz!ed Juiy 13, 1918 (possible du plicate or nonrecord material) Navy Department * A pub!ished engineering report on the electrical equipment on the "Maure- tania,' from Attache Regisiers (reports), Record Group 38, Records of the Office of Naval Intelligence. NARA staff are presently in the process of determining whether there are any Ug!p!! (n NARA's existing hoIding! attbe Main Archives Bui!dings, which may indicate that other records, in addition to those recovered above, might have been subject to improper disposal. The Archivist of the United States, Allen Weinstein, has ordered that NARA staff increase security meas!res at the Main Archives Building immed!atelyto safeguard NARA's permanent record holdings in the building. These measures inciude increasing security in not only the stack areas but also on the loading dock, and in rnonitor!ng trash disposal. As noted above, The stack areas, the loading dad:, and the trash disposa! areas are among those to which access ir restricted to NARA slaffers only. If you dcem it necessary. it may be pcssble to make special arrangements for you to view the docements recovered by the IG, consistent with other demands on our IG's time 3rd resojrces. wiH provide you with additional updates, as circumstances warrant. Please feet free to SEP-2!!2aas !: ç ! ,,P !c t':f,¼'ww!7tAti!ce."ov Oct-17-2005 C4:0Bp! From- 1-213 P 008/COB F-357 Letter to Dennis Gingeld. Esq. September 28, 20D5 Page 4 contact me if you have any questions or concerns. Sincerely, SON ft BARON ireetor of LtVgation Office of General Counsel cc: Abraham E. Haspel, Ph.D. Assistant Deputy Secretary U.S. Department of the Interior TOTAL P!5