IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ELOUISE PEPION COBELL, et aL, ) ) Plaintiffs, ) ) v. ) Case No. 1:96CV01285 ) (Judge Lamberth) GALE NORTON, Secretary of the Interior, et al., ) ) Defendants. ) _______________________________________________________________________________________) NOTICE OF FILING OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH OUARTERLY REPORT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY The Department of the Treasury has prepared its Twenty-Fourth Quarterly Report on Actions Taken By the Department of the Treasury to Retain JIM-Related Documents Necessary For an Accounting and submits it to the Court in accordance with this Court's Order of December21, 1999. A copy of the report is attached hereto. Dated: December 1, 2005 Respecffiilly 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/ John J. Siemietkowski ROBERT E. KIRSCHMAN, Jr. (D.C. Bar No. 406635) Assistant Director JOHN J. SIEMIETKOWSKI Trial Attorney Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division P.O. Box 875 Ben Franklin Station Washington, D.C. 20044-0875 Phone (202) 514-3368 Fax(202) 514-9163 2 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certif!y that, on December 1, 2005 the foregoing Notice of Filing of the Twenty-Fourth Quarterly Report for the Department of the Treasury 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 /s/ Kevin P. Kingston Kevin P. Kingston OE?ARTMENTOF THE! TREASURY !:Lj.,!..aaia t:iFTF14E F*US!li*!*V.CtEE3T w:AawiNeToN, fl! ! December 1.. 2005 ME.MORANDU.M FOR: PiOB:ER.T 1). !c.('A! (T1'A JR., ASSOCIATE ATTORNE'z O.FNFR Xl US DFPARIMFN1 01 JUSIICE nvn. DIV1SIO:N EPO:M: PAUL 0. !!tO.!jF.rfjf.j:!J4474g) .A:rFING C:!HiIfFCOUNSEL BUREAL 01- LUF PUHI IC DLBI IYEPi:U(TMENT OVTFIE TREASUR SUBJECT:. TET.!FORTfl:. QUAR.1 !IitL\ REPORT **COJ? !v, !OR:7O! l.:nc.in.ded *w,ith thit: cover methora.nd.urn. jc .djia "Twen tv!:F ou*rth: ! tiarterly Report:o:n: Muons I tELl! ba thu Dcpartmcnt ot the I jeasury to Rutain tIM Re atcd Doc uments Necccsary for an Accounting thu Rc port i I he Report has been prcparcd by thu Dcpartmcnt of the 1 reasury pursuant to the Conic Otder and Opinion n (aM //t Bcthtnu (*D!,Di.C:! CV INo. **9*5 1.285), :filed. Dcdein h:tr. 21.4 I.999.! Thu Report includes nifoimanon concerning the E!rnanc1a1 Nlantgcrncnt Suuuc I-MS 'i, the Btneau of the Public Dcht 'BPD ), and certain Departmental Offices ( DO' Th!. R!purt was p upated ha'ed on intoinution pros idcd hs a nu nbur ot program olfices hoot the chose descnhcd otganuations 1 hr ptepai anon of the Report includcd cnaulauon of thaits of tlic Rcpoi to piogram offices thai are responsible br the actions described in the Report Commcnts stint received from chose offices and tncorporatcd in thc Rupori Seniot oft icmls off MS BPD and DO Rviuwcd the Rc port before it tics submitted ni thu Dc pati:thcbt:.of Rstidh The .I)epathnd:td of cii. e: 'T):easurv :stanchf teddy lb .tct! :ponti . t.o! an y: qUestiOns .or.:cotx:trntt the Court;.may have aRe r reviewing th cc R ::cport.and .ds aftathmedts. wwwpbbH.c:debtt:r! .asgov TWENTY-FOURTH QUARTERLY REPORT ON ACTIONS TAKEN BY THE DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY TO RETAIN IIM-RELATED DOCUMENTS NECESSARY FOR AN ACCOUNTING Cobell, et at. v. Norton, et at. December 1, 2005 This is the Department of the Treasury's ("Treasury") Twenty-fourth Quarterly Report, pursuant to the Court's December 21, 1999 Order ("Order") in the above-captioned case. It covers activities occurring over a three-month period from September 1, 2005 through November 30, 2005. The Order requires Treasury to report on the steps it has taken since the last quarterly report to rectify a single breach of its trust responsibilities, namely the destruction of IIM trust materials after their age exceeded six years and seven months. Cobell. et al. v. Babbitt. et al., 91 F.Supp. 2d 1, 50, 59 (D.D.C. 1999). Treasury continues to preserve IIM-related documentation pursuant to the Court's August 12, 1999 Order, which defines the trust records that Treasury must retain. This quarter, Treasury issued a letter to the Federal Reserve Bank (FRB), reminding the FRE of Treasury's continuing instructions that no fiscal agency records be destroyed without Treasury's written authorization. (See Attachment A.) Treasury has been working with the FRE to transfer more fiscal agency records from FRE storage facilities and private storage facilities into Federal Records Centers, to reduce storage costs to Treasury. On October 4, 2005, Treasury issued an Operational Bulletin providing instructions to depository institutions impacted by Hurricane Katrina, concerning processing of contaminated Treasury checks. (!ç Attachment B.) The instructions necessarily permit the destruction of the original, contaminated check, for reasons of health and sanitation, but also require that a substitute check, image or copy be created and made available to Treasury. In Treasury's last quarterly report, we provided an update on Treasury's efforts to ascertain the effects, if any, of the hardware failure that occurred on the Departmental Office's (DO) local area network on May 7, 2003. The quarterly report explained that Treasury had run three software utilities, two of which ran successfully and showed no data problems. The third utility, called ESEUTIL, did not run successfully. Treasury's Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) can now report that it was able to defragment the database and run ESEUTIL successfully, and that the utility did not detect any problems with data integrity. The OCIO, its information technology contractor, and Microsoft technical personnel have stated that there is no other software utility that would provide additional information about the effects of the hardware failure. Accordingly, no additional steps are planned. We anticipate providing the Court with a technical report summarizing the findings and conclusions of the OCIO's technical contractor. INDEX TO ATTACHMENTS The Department ![the Treasury's Twenty-tb urth Quarterly Report December 1, 2005 Attachment A November 23, 2005 letter from FMS' Chief Counsel to the Federal Reserve Bank (FRB), reminding the FRB to continue retaining fiscal agcncy records as required by court orders and Treasury instructions (excluding attachments) Attachment B October 4, 2005 Operational Bulletin issued by Treasury, providing instructions to depository institutions regarding processing of Treasury checks contaminated by Hurricane Katrina a DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY Attachment A FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT SERVICE - WASHINGTON 0 C 20227 C: CD N N IS S ON E! November 23. 2005 VIA FACSIMILE AND RE(;IJLAR U.S. MAIL Mary II. Karr Senior Vice President The Federal Reserve Rank of St. Louis 411 Locust Street St. Louis, MO 63102 Re: Retention of Treasury Fiscal Agency Records in Compliance with (I) the August 12, 1999 Order of the Court in Cohell,ct aLx!Nprton.!ct!L. (2)the March 19, 2004 Orders of the Court in Pueblo oft!gunaY. Uni!c!iJ'ta!c! and JicarillaAp?clle_Tribe v._Ud States, and (3) Treasury's Standing Instructions dated April 20, 2001 Dear Ms. Karr: The purpose oF this letter is to remind the Federal Reserve Bank (FRB), which serves as Treasury's fiscal agent, to continue complying with the record retention requirements imposed by the above-referenced Court Orders and 'I reasury instructions. The Court Orders and Ireasury instructions remain effective and unchanged.1 Copies are attached for your convenience. Treasury's "standing instructions" require thai no Treasnry fiscal agency records he destroyed without the prior written approval of Freasurys designated representative(s). The Chief Counsels of the Financial Management Service (FMS) and the Bureau of the Public Debt (BPD) are designated to provide you (FRB's designated representative) with written destruction approvals on behalf of their respective bureaus, for specific categories of fiscal agency records that Treasury determines are not "Cobell" or "Tribal" related. Please continue to take all steps you deem appropriate to ensure that all Federal Reserve Banks and Branches continue to preserve pertinent Treasury fiscal agency records indefinitely. "Records" include "documents," "data" and "tangible things,!' in all forms and media (e.g., paper, film, electronic), at all locations (including Federal Records Centers. private storage facilities and on-site facilities), and in any associated NARA "Record Groups" (including, but not necessarily limited to, Record Groups 425. 39, 50, 53 and R2). An Order entered in the Jicarilla and Laguna cases on April 18, 2005 clanfied the definition of "Preservation' as used in March 19, 2004 Orders The clarification was consistent with our interpretation of the term Page 2 Thank you lot your cooperation. Please direct any inquiries to me at (202) 874-6681 and/or to Paul Wolileich, Acting Chief Counsel for I3PD, at (202) 504-3705. Sincerely, lylt., ! é fl7 Margaret Marquette Chief Counsel Attachments cc (!v/out attachments): Paul Wolfteich. Acting Chief Counsel, BPD Attachment B The United States Department of the Treasury Financial Management Service October 4, 2005 Operational Bulletin Processing of Contaminated Treasury Cheeks by Depository Institutions Impacted by Hurricane Katrina Purpose: The Federal Reserve issued guidelines on September 19, 2005,1 regarding processing of contaminated checks by financial institutions impacted by Hurricane Katrina. Ihis Bulletin provides specific operational guidance regarding the processing of contaminated Treasury checks. This Bulletin is effective from the date of release thru October 3 1. 2005. Treasury reserves the right to extend the effective date. Check Presentment Alternatives: To eliminate or minimize the handling of any contaniinated Treasury checks that may be submitted through the collection stream, depository financial institutions may process contaminated Treasury checks for collection using any of the following methods: I. check 2 I method. Create a substitute Treasury check as permitted under the Check 21 Act or an electronic image of the Treasury check as permitted under 31 C.LR. § 240.3. 2. ACH method. Originate a Destroyed Cheek Entry (XCK) entry to electronically collect the contaminated Treasury cheek through the Automated Clearing I-louse (the proper format for contaminated Treasury cheeks is attached). If you need assistance with this method, please contact the Federal Reserve FedAC1-l customer support at 1-888-883- 2 180. 3. Photoeqpy method. Use a correctly prepared photocopy in lieu of the original Treasury check, in accordance with section 22.4(d) of the Federal Reserve's Operating Circular 3. Treasury's preference is that depository financial institutions forward either Check 21 images or use the ACH entry XCK. Disposition of the Original Treasury Cheek: The depository financial institution may destroy the contaminated original Treasury check as follows: If using the "Check 2 I" method or the Photocopy" method, the original of the contaniinated Treasury check may be destroyed after creating the substitute check or the I A' t 'Ith Ic it ! '! Ii hsei !iccs oi g C ontim in fled ( heck Proccdui es tor Dc positui '! I in ire i 'il Institutions (OIls) Impacted by Hurricane Katrina' electronic image as specified in number above or the photocopy as specified in number 3 above. If using the "ACM" method, the original of the contaminated Treasury check may be destroyed after making the film copy or photocopy of the check and originating the XCIC entry. as specified in number 2 above. All such copies must he retained by the financial institution for a minimum of 6 years and must be made available to Treasury upon request - 2 ACH Method Convert the check to an ACH XCK entry c Uhutril Stiltr!urit51tw .C! P505,01,0.479 L - I 1 III I ITi I t I c,:, stI&c! (..f lEA1? I _______ I-_______ ______ ______ _____ _____ ____ c1:i!1!'! iri jTG1IJ ! 1. 1 (1) 2 3 Check Field ACH Field (6 Record-Entry Detail Record) Auxiliary On-Us Field/Symbol Field Field 7 Check Serial Number - L (leftmost field) 5 characters Alphameric 15 characters; Left Justify 2 Routing Transit Number (00000051) - 8 Field 3 Receiving DFI Identification - 8 characters Routing Transit Number check digit (8) - 1 character Field 4 Check Digit - I character Account Field/Check Serial Number - 9 Field 5 DFI Account Number - characters Alphameric 17 characters; Left Justify Transaction Code/PC Field - 6 !Fid 8 Process Control Field - characters _____ f!!meric_6 characters 5 Amount 10 characters ______ !JField_6 Amount - 10 characters Field 10 Discretionary Data - 2 L _____ _____ characters. Insert 'HK' you need assistance with the ACI-! method, please contact the Federal Reserve FedACH customer support line at 1-888-883-2180. characters 4 If n