Good
morning! It is truly a pleasure to be here.
You didn't have to twist my arm too much to
get me back to Las Vegas.
One of the things I love best about Las Vegas
is the way that different cultures and traditions
are incorporated into the city's buildings and
attractions. Back in Washington, there is also
a new theme building, dedicated solely to the
culture and traditions of Native Americans.
In September, Native Americans from across the
country came together to celebrate the grand
opening of the National Museum of the American
Indian. This magnificent new museum provides
a place for all Americans to come and learn
about the history, hardships, accomplishments,
culture, and spirituality of Native Americans.
It will stand as a lasting monument to the incredible
contributions Native Americans have made throughout
our nation's history. ***
Today,
I want to give you a brief overview of the FBI's
role in Indian Country and tell you what we
are doing both now and in the future to improve
the safety and security of your nations.
The FBI has federal law enforcement responsibility
on more than 200 Indian Reservations. We also
provide forensic and investigative services
to law enforcement officials on those reservations
we do not cover. As you all know, the September
11 attacks made it necessary for the FBI to
shift many agents out of drug investigations
and other criminal programs to pursue counterterrorism
investigations. But one area we have not cut
back on is Indian Country. In fact, we have
expanded.
Over 100 Special Agents are currently working
full-time in support of Indian Country investigative
matters. In 2004, those agents initiated nearly
1,900 cases. A new Safe Trails Task Force is
planned for Minnesota next year. We added a
Victim Specialist to our Reno Resident Agency.
The Indian Gaming Working group is up and running
nationwide. And the joint Indian Country Training
Initiative has 25 training events scheduled
for next year.
We in the FBI remain committed to working with
you to protect Indian Country. First and foremost,
we are committed to preventing and investigating
crime. One of our most important joint efforts
is the Safe Trails Task Forces, which bring
federal, state, local and tribal resources together
to combat violent crime, drugs, and corruption.
We have a total of 12 Safe Trails Task Forces
nationwide. They have made a real difference
in investigating crime and keeping Native American
communities safe. And as I mentioned, another
Safe Trails Task Force will be coming to Minnesota
in 2005.
In addition to gathering evidence during investigations,
the FBI Laboratory's Indian Country Task Force
is devoted solely to processing evidence from
Indian Country cases. Tribes can now submit
evidence directly to our lab, and the task force
has reduced the processing time for DNA evidence
from nearly a year to under 60 days.
Second, we are committed to assisting victims
of crime. Twenty-five percent of our entire
cadre of victim specialists, some of whom are
Native Americans, are assigned exclusively to
Indian Country. They provide a wide range of
services, including transporting child victims
to interviews and critical services, finding
emergency shelter for victims of domestic violence,
and helping families of homicide victims. The
FBI also partners with the Indian Police Academy
to offer training clinics in forensic child
interviewing.
I am thrilled to tell you that later this month,
in partnership with the Tohono O'odham Nation
and the Southern Arizona Children's Advocacy
Center, we will officially open a new child
forensic interviewing center in Sells, Arizona,
called "The Tohono O'odham Reservation
Children's House," or TORCH. Another Child
Interviewing Center will be opening on the Rosebud
Reservation in South Dakota in early November.
These centers provide a place for child victims
to feel secure while being interviewed by law
enforcement and victim specialists, and give
them a safe place to start their recovery process.
Third, we are committed to combating criminal
activity at Indian gaming establishments. Today,
there are more than 360 such gaming facilities
around the country. They bring in total revenues
of nearly 17 billion dollars. That is more than
Las Vegas and Atlantic City combined. The upside
of this phenomenal growth is an economic boon
to many Native American tribes; the downside
is the increased potential for criminal activity.
To confront this threat, last year, the FBI
established the Indian Gaming Working Group,
an interagency group that identifies and directs
resources to address the most pressing Indian
gaming violations. The group includes officials
from the FBI, the Department of the Interior,
the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the National Indian
Gaming Commission, and the Internal Revenue
Service, among others. Numerous investigations
have been initiated as a result of their efforts,
and the Indian Gaming Working Group provides
funding and personnel assistance to these cases.
We are working together with you to ensure the
integrity of gaming as a source of revenue and
to keep casinos crime-free.
Fourth, we are committed to providing high-quality
training to tribal law enforcement. We coordinate
closely with the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office
of Law Enforcement Services and the Indian Police
Academy in New Mexico. Since 1997, we have trained
over 4,000 Indian Country law enforcement officers
and support personnel. We also train doctors
and social workers, in an effort to help create
a highly professional workforce ready to handle
everything from homicides to child sexual abuse
to gang violence. In 2004, we offered training
in homicide investigations, sexual assault,
crime scene processing, officer survival, gaming,
interview and interrogation, and crisis management,
to name a few. We recognize that each of your
communities faces different and ever-changing
threats. I encourage you to work with your local
FBI field office or the Indian Country Unit
to identify your specific training needs.
***
Our combined efforts to train officers, investigate
crime, assist victims, and bring perpetrators
to justice are paying off. Two years ago, for
example, our Billings, Montana office received
information that a former Air Force officer
had abused a nine-year-old girl. In executing
a search warrant, FBI and BIA agents discovered
child pornography on the suspect's computer
– some of which had been manufactured
by the suspect. We arrested Jeffrey Speelman,
and he pled guilty to sexual abuse and the possession
of child pornography. In January he was sentenced
to over 60 years in federal prison.
Let me give you a prime example of a very sensitive,
and very successful, joint investigation among
the FBI, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, tribal
law enforcement, and the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police, spanning nearly 30 years. Many of you
may be familiar with the case of Anna Mae Aquash,
who was murdered on the Pine Ridge Reservation
in South Dakota in 1975. In the early 1970s,
Aquash became involved with the American Indian
Movement. She quickly gained stature and access
to the highest levels of leadership within the
organization, but also gained enemies who mistrusted
her motives. In fact, members Arlo Looking Cloud,
John Graham, and Theda Clarke falsely suspected
her of being an informant. They took her to
a remote location on the Pine Ridge Reservation
and executed her.
In March 2003, Arlo Looking Cloud and John Graham
were indicted on charges of first degree murder
by a federal grand jury. Looking Cloud was arrested
in Denver a week later. He was sentenced in
April 2004 to life in prison. John Graham, also
charged with first degree murder, awaits extradition
from Canada, which will hopefully take place
later this year. Anna Mae Aquash's daughter,
Debbie Maloney, who is now a Constable with
the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, was finally
able to bring her mother's remains back to her
home reservation in Canada for burial.
***
Just as partnerships will continue to be critical
in protecting Indian Country from violence and
injustice, partnerships will also continue to
be vital to protecting our country from crime
and terrorism. I once heard a Native American
proverb that says, "I have seen that in
any great undertaking it is not enough for man
to depend simply on himself." That sums
it up – in an age when criminal and terrorist
threats are increasingly complex and interconnected,
no agency, no department, no country can succeed
alone.
The September 11th attacks on our homeland made
it painfully clear that law enforcement and
intelligence agencies could no longer afford
to work separately or hold onto their own information.
Before September 11th, we did not have the seamless
coordination that is crucial to defending our
country and our fellow citizens.
Today, we do have that cooperation. It is unprecedented,
and it is powerful. Together, we have made tremendous
progress, but our work is not yet finished.
Terrorist attacks around the world are deadly
reminders that terrorists are still determined
to attack Americans, whether overseas or within
our borders. All American communities have been
turned into the front lines. Today's threats
do not stop at the borders of your reservations.
We all worry about terrorists attempting to
cross into the United States through Indian
Country, or that the same open borders used
by illegal aliens in search of work could also
serve as access points for terrorists.
While other agencies take the lead on border
security, the FBI still has a responsibility
to include tribes in our homeland security efforts.
To that end, the FBI participates on the Federal
Agency Advisory Panel of the Tribal Border Security
Project, which was spearheaded by you, the members
of the National Native American Law Enforcement
Association, as well as the National Congress
of American Indians. Together, we are working
to develop interoperable communications and
equipment among tribal law enforcement agencies,
the Border Patrol, and other federal, state,
and local law enforcement agencies. And it isn't
just agents from the Indian Country Unit that
serve on the panel – the FBI also has
representatives whose primary focus is on alien
smuggling and other border security issues.
Today's criminals and terrorists operate at
every level and we must continue to fight back
at every level. The FBI will continue to develop
our strategic partnerships with law enforcement
agencies across the world – but also here,
with tribal police departments, the BIA, the
Indian Health Service, the National Congress
of American Indians, and all of you. By working
together, we can have a tremendous impact on
the safety and security of our homeland.
The men and women of the FBI are proud to be
your partners. I am honored to have had the
opportunity to talk to you today. And if any
of you are interested in working more closely
with us – or coming to work for us –
please give us a call! May God bless all of
you.
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