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 NOVEMBER 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 November 2005. A copy of the report is attached hereto. Dated: December 15, 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/ Robert E. Kirschman, Jr. ROBERT E. KIRSCHMAN, Jr. (D.C. Bar No. 406635) Assistant Director Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division 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 December 15, 2005 the foregoing Notice of Filing of November 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 /s/ Kevin P. Kingston Kevin P. Kingston ACTTVrrY BEPORT OFFICE OF TRUST RECORDS November 1 - 30, 2005 PROGTht%fM!flJC. Labat-Mderson (Labat Indexing Project) Labat reported that 2,528 boxes of inactive Indian records were completed in November 2005. The totai number of boxes completed through November 2005 is approximately 128,825. Movement of Records The Bureau of Indian Affairs (ETA) and OST moved 1,217 boxes of inactive records from various field locations to Lenexa, Kansas for indexing and subsequent storage at the American Indian Records Repository (AJIRk) during this reporting period. * Boxes Requiring Preservation andJo.! Remediation As reported in the June 2005 OTR i!crivity Report, a total of 285 boxes were shipped to NARA in Lenexa, Kansas for presentation andlor remediation. NARA reports that ail records in the boxes have now been made safe for handling. Of the 285 boxes, 146 boxes were sent to Labat for indexing and subsequent storage in Am..R in November 2005. Of the remaining boxes, approximately 60 boxes require holding maintenance which means file folders within the boxes need to be replaced. Approximately 60 boxes have records that require humidification and flattening of records after humidification. Approximately 20 boxes (down from the 30 boxes reported in October) require further assessment by the conservator. It is anticipated that NAPA will be making recommendations on the approximately 20 boxes in January 2006. The total box count of this collection has increased by four (4) to 289 as fçur boxes would no longer hold the entire contents of the box after holdings maintenance. These are considered "overfloW' boxes which will stay with its respective original box. As the file folderljackets are replaced, this number nould increase. Records Retention Schedules Electronic Recr!rds Schedules forthe Jndian Forestry Database (Infoflat), Continuous Forest Inventory (CFI), and the Real Estate Module System used in the Southern Plains Region werp approved by the Archivist of the United States in November2005. Six electronic records schedules for NA systems and the record schedule for the Box! idex Se?sch System (BISS) are pending review and approval by the Archi 'ist. I * Site Assessment Statement During the month of November, OTRA issued final records assessment reports for Sisseton Agency BIA and OST Field Office as well as Fort Apache OST Field Office. OTRA performed site assessments for the Fort Apache and Fort Yuma BIA and OST offices. * Records Training OTR did not conduct records management training in November 2005. * Equipment OTR provided 22 pieces of fireproof filing equipment to BIA and OST offices during this reporting period. * Records Evaluations - Accession !=MQ0-03-8001 The 31 boxes continue to remain with OTR pursuant to a litigation hold. Once the boxes are released, OST can carry 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 12th Street warehouse. * Litigation Support and Research Requests OTR continued to provide litigation support in research of records for tribal trust litigation cases including the Shoshone-Arapaho Tribes of Wind River, the Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold, Quapaw, Northern Arapaho Tribe, Osage, and Warm Springs 0Th. continued to provide significant support to the Office of Historical Trust Accounting and its contractors, and the Department of Justice and its contractors. AIIRR staff provided responses to approximately 140 research requests from BIA and OST. * Records at the National Archives OTR received a copy of a letter dated December 9, 2005, addressed to Dennis Gingold, Esq. from Jason R Baron, Director of Litigation, Office of the General Counsel, National Archives and Records Administration. A copy of the letter is attached. ADI!1EJIsTPsTJvE. General administrative activities continued. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS: None. 2 I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct to the best of my knowledge1 information and belief I express no opinion on the content of the Site Assessments subsection described above. Ethel J Al!e a I declare under penalty of peijury that the content of the Site Assessments Statement described above is true and correct to the best of my knowledge, information and belief I express no opinion on the contents of other sections/subsections of the report !f !2&& if Lords Acting Director, Office of Trust Re'view and Audit 3 National Archives and Records Administration 8601 Adelphi Road CoZkg! Park, Maryland 20740-600] ThI. 3O1-B27-I4!9 Fa! 3C!-!37-O293 EtaU: jasot!hron!azagov December91 2005 By Facsimile 202-318-2372 Dennis Gingold, Esq. 607 14'!' St. N.W. Box5 Washington, D.C. 20005 Re: C'!beJI Ia'. Norton Dear Dennis: In my September 28, 2005 letter to you. I stated that 1 would provide you with a further update concerning the incidents of attempted records disposal at Main Archives which occurred in September 2005. This letter serves as that update. On Friday, December 9. 2005, Archivist Allen W&nstein issued the attached notice to all National Archives and Records Administration (I4ARA) staff. As the notice states, and as you are aware from my prior correspondence, a series of seven incidents occurred on arid after September 1 2005. involving the attempted disposal of various types of permanent records amcn.!st our agenc!i's holdings at the Main Archives building in Washington, D.C. The documents involved included those from the Dİartment of Veterans Affairs, the US. Army, Navy Cepartrnent, and War Department, as well as from the Department of Interior. As the notice goes on to state, NARA took swift action to investigate and cure the situation that led to those September incidents. NARA's Inspector General gathered eviden:e, and based on that evidence, on Septc!rnber 28, 2005, NARA management barred one NARA emp?o!ee (an archives technician) from having further access to the secured, nonpublic stack areas in the Main Archives bundinc. NARA also placed that individual on administrative leave. The employee subsequently resigned from NARA, effective November 18, 2005. Most importanfl!', no additional incidents of attempted disposal of records have jeen reported since the September 2005 incidents referred to above. In my Sep'tember 28 letter to you I noted that N.ARA staff were taking steps to discover whether there were any 'ç!ap&' In NARA's existing hoTdings corresponding to the records NA]t,V !ncb !iie is /lrm:/Avww,ordTjvpr,Eov that the former employee was processing for preservation, in addition to the records recovered in the September 2305 incIdents. The Archivist's notice reaffirms that N!RA staff are continuing to review records holdings in this regard. Based on the review conducted to date. L am in a position to supply you with the following addftional facts. Other than with respect to VA records, the employee in question who has resigned was most recently involved in processing Consolidaled Chippewa record holdings (including being lLasked to replace old, nonrecord tile covers and jackets with new covers). To date. NARA staff have de!ermined that approximately 250 of the actual files that correspond to the approximately 275 Consovdated Chippewa nonrecord file covers and jackets recovered from various trash areas In September are, !n fact intact, in NARA'S permanent holdings- As stated above. NARA's review process is ongoing, and NARA staff members are continuing to search for the remaIning 25 or so files. In the event these additiona! records are located, NASA will provide you with a further update. Please call i-ne if you have further questions or concems Since tI r ft N ireclor or Lltl9atlon Office of 3eneral Counsel Enclosure cc: Abraham E. Haspe!, Ph3. Assistant Deputy Secretary U.S. Department of the Interior WAFA !s sik is hrrp:/AAV.O3-ChP/!.gCV ?rorn: NOTICE To: NOTICE Date: 1219/05 2:50PM Subject: WARA Notice 2006.064, troident of Attempted Disoosaf of Archival !ecords at Archh'es This is a NARA nolice to all ernpJcyees. Attonue.n supervisors: If you have employees who O not have access to a computer, please ensure thai those employees receives copy of this notice. This includes employees on LWCP or paid Leave. Decerrber 92005 Durinq Septerp!er 2005, a serIes of seven incidents occurred invah,in9 the attempted disposal of Various types of permanent records amongst our holdings at Archives I. Several staff members and conlractors, including archivists, a security guard and an electrician !und the original documents in trash containers and quickly brought them to the attention of their su!ervisors. The documents were from the Department of Veterans Affairs. the U.S. Army. Navy Department ani War Department. as well as from the Department of interior. The IncIdents were tmmediat&y reported tn the Inspecto, General wria opened an investigation and gathered evidence. Based on That evidence, on September 28, 2005, a NJARA employee was barred from having further access 10 the secured. nonpublic tack ereas at Archives!. NARA also placed that individI1a! on administrative leave. The employee subsec!uerttfy resIgned from NASA. Most irnpartanrly, no additional incidents of attempted disposal of records have been reported. I Want to take thjz Opportunity to thank trose employees who found the records in the trash containers an! the IG !or his assistance in this case, The staft in the Office of Records Services, Washington DC. is contInuing to revien cur recordc ho'dings to assess whether there are any gaps related to these prior incidents, I also want to remind all of you of the important work that you do in safeguarding our natiorrs records, We must continue to wotic together to fInd ways to ensure tho safety of out documentary heritage, while makng these records available to the widest possible audience. ALLEN WEIN4SIEftj Archivb;t of the UnIted Statos For questions on this notice contact: Susan Cooper NCON susancooper!nam.qg! Room 102, A! Phone: 202-50i.5$!s ext. 236 Fax: 202-208-2046