BIA Is Offline

Category: Native

Did anyone notice that the official BIA website has been removed? Well, it seems that the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has finally been taken to court over their mismanagement of "their" trust fund for Individual Indian Monies. During the investigation, it was found that the computer system set up to manage this trust fund (TAAMS) was horribly insecure -- so much so that court investigators could modify and even create new trust data! As a result, the Department of the Interior was ordered to disconnect from the Internet this system, and any other systems which could access it -- which essentially meant the shutdown of their entire operation! Here is the court transcript, which also has a few links to sites with more information.