The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is an agency of the federal government of the United States within the US Department of the Interior. It is responsible for the administration and management of 55,700,000 acres (225,000 km2) of land held in trust by the United States for Native Americans in the United States, Native American Tribes and Alaska Natives.The Bureau of Indian Affairs is one of two bureaus under the jurisdiction of the Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs: the Bureau of Indian Affairs and theBureau of Indian Education, which provides education services to approximately 48,000 Native Americans.The BIA's responsibilities once included providing health care services to American Indians and Alaska Natives. In 1954, that function was legislatively transferred to the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, now known as the Department of Health and Human Services, where it has remained to this day as the Indian Health Service (IHS).Contents[hide] 1 Organization2 History2.1 20th century3 Legal issues3.1 Employee overtime3.2 Trust assets4 Mission5 Commissioners and Assistant Secretaries6 See also7 References8 Additional reading8.1 Primary sources9 External links[edit]OrganizationLocated at 1849 C Street, N.W. in Washington, D.C., since May 22, 2009, the BIA is headed by an Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs. The current appointee is Larry EchoHawk, an enrolled member of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma.The BIA serves the 566 federally recognized tribes through four offices:The Office of Indian Services - operates the BIA's general assistance, disaster relief, Indian child welfare, tribal government, Indian Self-Determination, and Indian Reservation Roads Program.The Office of Justice Services - directly operates or funds law enforcement, tribal courts, and detention facilities on federal Indian lands. OJS funded 208 law enforcement agencies, consisting of 43 BIA-operated police agencies, and 165 tribally operated agencies under contract, or compact with the OJS. The office has seven areas of activity: Criminal Investigations and Police Services, Detention/Corrections, Inspection/Internal Affairs, Tribal Law Enforcement and Special Initiatives, the Indian Police Academy, Tribal Justice Support, and Program Management. The OJS also provides oversight and technical assistance to tribal law enforcement programs when and where requested. It operates four divisions: Corrections, Drug Enforcement, the Indian Police Academy, and Law Enforcement[1]The Office of Trust Services - works with tribes and individual American Indians and Alaska Natives in the management of their trust lands, assets, and resources.The Office of Field Operations - oversees 12 regional offices; Alaska, Great Plains, Northwest, Southern Plains, Eastern, Navajo, Pacific, Southwest, Eastern Oklahoma, Midwest, Rocky Mountain, and Western; and 83 agencies, which carry out the mission of the Bureau at the tribal level.[edit]HistoryCato Sells, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 19131940 Indians at Work magazine, published by the Office of Indian Affairs, predecessor agency to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.First called the Office of Indian Affairs, the agency was created as a division in 1824 within the War Department. Similar agencies had existed in the U.S. government since 1775, when the Second Continental Congress created a trio of Indian-related agencies. Benjamin Franklin and Patrick Henry were appointed among the early commissioners to negotiate treaties with Native Americans to obtain their neutrality during the American Revolutionary War.In 1789, the United States Congress placed Native American relations within the newly formed War Department. By 1806, the Congress had created a Superintendent of Indian Trade, within the War Department, who was charged with maintaining the factory trading network of the fur trade. The post was held by Thomas L. McKenney from 1816 until the abolition of the factory system in 1822.The government licensed traders to have some control in Indian territories and gain a share of the lucrative trade. In 1832 Congress established the position of Commissioner of Indian Affairs. In 1869, Ely Samuel Parker was the first Native American to be appointed as commissioner of Indian affairs.The abolition of the factory system left a vacuum within the U.S. government regarding Native American relations. The current Bureau of Indian Affairs was formed on March 11, 1824, by Secretary of War John C. Calhoun, who created the agency as a division within his department, without authorization from theUnited States Congress. He appointed McKenney as the first head of the office, which went by several names. McKenney preferred to call it the "Indian Office", whereas the current name was preferred by Calhoun.In 1849 Indian Affairs was transferred to the Department of the Interior. The bureau was renamed as Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in 1947 (from the original Office of Indian Affairs). The Bureau of Indian Affairs has been involved in many controversial policies. One of the most controversial was the late nineteenth-early twentieth century decision to educate native children in separate boarding schools, with an emphasis on assimilation that prohibited them from using their indigenous languages, practices, and cultures. It emphasized being educated to European-American culture.[2]Some were beaten for praying to their own creator god.[3][edit]20th centuryWith the rise of American Indian activism in the 1960s and 1970s, and increasing demands for enforcement of treaty rights and sovereignty, the 1970s were a particularly turbulent period of BIA history.[4]The rise of activist groups such as the American Indian Movement worried the U.S. Government; the FBI responded both overtly and covertly (by creating COINTELPRO and other programs) to suppress possible uprisings among native peoples.[5][6][7]As a branch of the U.S. government with personnel on Indian reservations, BIA police were involved in political actions such as: the occupation of BIA headquarters in Washington, D.C. in 1972; the Wounded Knee Incident of 1973, where activists at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation occupied land for more than two months;[8]and the Pine Ridge shootout (for which Leonard Peltier was convicted of killing two FBI agents).[9]The BIA was implicated in supporting controversial tribal presidents, notably Dick Wilson, who was charged with being authoritarian; using tribal funds for a private paramilitary force, the Guardians of the Oglala Nation (or "GOON squad"), which he employed against opponents; intimidation of voters in the 1974 election; misappropriation of funds, and other misdeeds. [10] Many native peoples continue to oppose policies of the BIA, particularly problems in enforcing treaties, and handling records and income for trust lands.On November 3, a group of around 500 American Indians with the American Indian Movement (AIM) took over the (BIA) building in Washington, D.C., the culmination of their Trail of Broken Treaties walk. They intended to bring attention to American Indian issues, including their demands for renewed negotiation of treaties, enforcement of treaty rights and improvement in living standards. They occupied the Department of Interior headquarters from November 3 to November 9, 1972.[11]Feeling the government was ignoring them, the protesters vandalized the building. After a week, the protesters left, having caused $700,000 in damages. Many records were lost, destroyed or stolen, including irreplaceable treaties, deeds, and water rights records, which some Indian officials said could set the tribes back 50 to 100 years. [2] [3][edit]Legal issues[edit]Employee overtimeThe Bureau of Indian Affairs has been sued four times in class action overtime lawsuits brought by the Federation of Indian Service Employees,[12]a union which represents the federal civilian employees of BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs), BIE (Bureau of Indian Education), AS-IA (Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs) and OST (Office of the Special Trustee for Indian Affairs). The Union is represented by the Law Offices of Snider & Associates, LLC,[13]which concentrates in FLSA overtime class actions against the Federal Government and other large employers. The Grievances allege widespread violations of the FLSA [14] and claims tens of millions of dollars in damages.[edit]Trust assetsCobell vs. Salazar, a major class action case related to trust lands, was settled in December 2009. The suit was filed against the US Department of Interior, of which BIA is part. A major responsibility has been the management of the Indian trust accounts. This was a class-action lawsuit regarding the federal government's management and accounting of more than 300,000 individual American Indian and Alaska Native trust accounts. A settlement fund totaling $1.4 billion is to be distributed to class members. This is to compensate for claims that prior U.S. officials had mismanaged the administration of Indian trust assets. In addition, the settlement establishes a $2 billion fund enabling federally recognized tribes to voluntarily buy-back and consolidate fractionated land interests.[15][edit]MissionThe Bureau is currently trying to evolve from a supervisory to an advisory role; however, this has been a difficult task as the BIA is remembered by many Native Americans as playing a police role in which the U.S. government historically dictated to tribes and their members what they could and could not do in accordance with treaties signed by both.[16][edit]Commissioners and Assistant SecretariesCommissioners of Indian Affairs[17]Heads of the Bureau of Indian Affairs1824-1830 Thomas L. McKenney1830-1831 Samuel S. HamiltonCommissioners of Indian Affairs1832-1836 Elbert Herring1836-1838 Carey A. Harris1838-1845 Thomas Hartley Crawford1845-1849 William Medill1849-1850 Orlando Brown1850-1853 Luke Lea1853-1857 George Washington Manypenny1857-1858 James W. Denver1858-1858 Charles E. Mix1858-1859 James W. Denver1859-1861 Alfred B. Greenwood1861-1865 William P. Dole1865-1866 Dennis N. Cooley1866-1867 Lewis V. Bogy1867-1869 Nathaniel G. Taylor1869-1871 Ely S. Parker1871-1872 Francis A. Walker1873-1875 Edward Parmelee Smith1875-1877 John Q. Smith1877-1880 Ezra A. Hayt1880-1881 Rowland E. Trowbridge1881-1885 Hiram Price1885-1888 John D.C. Atkins1888-1889 John H. Oberly1889-1893 Thomas Jefferson Morgan1893-1897 Daniel M. Browning1897-1904 William A. Jones1904-1909 Francis E. Leupp1909-1913 Robert G. Valentine1913-1921 Cato Sells1921-1929 Charles H. Burke1929-1933 Charles J. Rhoads1933-1945 John Collier1945-1948 William A. Brophy1948-1949 William R. Zimmerman (acting)1949-1950 John R. Nichols1950-1953 Dillon S. Myer1953-1961 Glenn L. Emmons1961-1966 Philleo Nash1966-1969 Robert L. Bennett1969-1972 Louis R. Bruce1973-1976 Morris Thompson1976-1977 Dr. Benjamin ReifelAssistant Secretaries of the Interior for Indian Affairs[17]1977-1978 Forrest Gerard1979-1981 William E. Hallett1981-1984 Kenneth L. Smith1985-1989 Ross Swimmer1989-1993 Eddie Frank Brown1993-1997 Ada E. Deer1997-2001 Kevin Gover2001-2001 James H. McDivitt (acting)2001-2003 Neal A. McCaleb2003-2004 Aurene M. Martin (acting)2004-2005 Dave Anderson2005-2007 Jim Cason (acting)2007-2008 Carl J. Artman2008-2009 George T. Skibine (acting)2009-present Larry EchoHawk
The Native Americans. FDR appointed John Collier as commissioner of Indian Affairs. Collier wished to preserve N.A. culture (in part by having children attend schools on the reservation).In 1934 congress passed the Indian Reorganization Act which fulfilled most of Collier's objectives.
The secret service.
Yes. Why not? Most of us are part indian. BLAME WHITEY!
1/8=12.5 percent Indian
Bureau is a noun. It has several meanings. Here are the popular meanings: A dresser or chest of drawers. A department of the government, like the bureau of the Department of Motor Vehicles or Census Bureau.
The Bureau of Mines was closed by the government in early 1996. There is no department that operates it at this point. When it was operating, it was a part of the federal government.Interiorinterior :)
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is part of the Justice Department. They solve crimes.
The BATFE is part of the Treasury Department.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics is a department of the government that collects data, analyzes it, and then gives the data to governments and federal agencies. The statistics bureau is part of the Department of Labor.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE) is subordinate to the United States Department of Justice.
Coin production is handled by the Bureau of the Mint, which is part of the Treasury Department. Paper money is under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. It's also part of the Treasury Department but is completely separate from the Mint.
The United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing which is part of the Department of the Treasury does the engraving and printing for the US government.
Currently there are Cherokee living in all continental states; as part of an 'education' plan by the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) Cherokee's were shipped around the nation to 'integrate' them into white society.
The noun 'bureau' is a word for a government department or part of a government department, or other organization (a news bureau, a credit bureau, etc.) The noun 'bureau' can function as a general collective noun for any group that suits the context; for example, a bureau of functionaries, a bureau of bean counters, a bureau of boondoggles, etc.
The Department of Veterans affairs offers many services to military veterans. The Department of veterans affairs offers medical and mental health care for veterans, as well as financial and educational assistance. The Department of veterans affairs gives veterans continued support. For a full listing of what the department of veterans affairs is doing for veterans visit their official site.
The Department of Consumer Affairs of California is overseen by and part of the California State and Consumer services agency. This sort of organisation will be in place for all Departments of Consumer Affairs for each state and the federal government.