Office of the Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs

Media Advisory

Joint Tribal Leaders/DOI Task Force on Trust Reform
to Conduct Final Meeting December 16 & 17 in Washington, D.C.

WASHINGTON - The Joint Tribal Leaders/DOI Task Force on Trust Reform will hold its final meeting on December 16^th and 17^th at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Washington, D.C. At this meeting, task force members will provide closing comments and review their work over the past 11 months that has been aimed to improve trust management systems and processes to better serve American Indian and Alaska Native tribal and individual trust account beneficiaries.

On December 4^th, Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb announced a major reorganization plan for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST) that was based on organizational concepts developed by the task force over the past year. The task force was established in February of 2002 to review and propose plans for improving the Department's management of individual Indian and tribal trust assets.

WHO:        Joint Tribal Leaders/DOI Task Force on Trust Reform

WHAT:      Final meeting to review past year of activity and reorganization plan to improve Department of the Interior                    management of individual Indian and tribal trust assets.

WHEN:      December 16, 2002 - 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
                    December 17, 2002 - 8:30 a.m. to Noon (Local time)

WHERE:    J.W. Marriott Hotel, 1331 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C.
                    Ph: 202-393-2000.





-DOI-





U.S. Department of the Interior