Judge Adds Fifth Count Against Secretary for Trial Starting December 10
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The federal judge overseeing the Cobell v. Norton individual Indian trust litigation today ordered Interior Secretary Gale Norton to stand trial on a new count of contempt, alleging that Norton committed "a fraud on the Court" by not informing the judge that computer security for the trust is virtually nonexistent.
U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth added the contempt charge, the fifth against Norton, one day after ordering Interior to shut down all on-line operations of the Individual Indian Monies (IIM) trust accounting data system because the data are at severe risk of penetration by hackers and other unauthorized users.
An investigative report made public by Lamberth on Dec. 4 documented severe lapses in security for the trust, which receives $500 million a year in revenues from Indian-owned lands throughout the West.
Norton already is scheduled to start trial on Monday, Dec. 10, in Lamberth's Washington, D.C. courtroom on four additional contempt charges. The allegation handed down by the judge today will be added to the other counts and will be tried in the same trial. The original four counts charge Norton with ignoring court orders to clean up the trust and with submitting false reports to Lamberth on Interior's supposed progress on trust reform.
In a brief hearing today, government lawyers offered to submit to Lamberth by noon Friday, Dec. 7, a proposed consent order outlining measures Interior says it will take to improve computer security for the trust, in an attempt to persuade Lamberth to lift his order shutting down the system. The judge agreed to review the proposal, but declined to say whether he might change his mind about the latest contempt allegation.
Also today, lead plaintiffs' attorney Dennis M. Gingold listed 26 witnesses the plaintiffs intend to call to testify in next week's contempt trial. The list includes Norton, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb, former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, Babbitt's former chief of staff, Anne Shields, former BIA head Kevin Gover, Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles, Interior Solicitor William Myers and Special Trustee Thomas Slonaker, as well as other Interior and Justice Department officials and attorneys.
contact: Phillip Smith (202) 661-6350
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