Bureau of Indian Affairs

Bureau of Indian Affairs, agency of the United States government, generally responsible for administering federal policy for Native Americans and Inuits. It shares some responsibilities—for example, in education and housing—with other federal agencies.

One of the oldest federal agencies, the Bureau of Indian Affairs was created in 1824 by the War Department; it was added to the new U.S. Department of the Interior in 1849. Its early mission was to assimilate Native Americans into white American culture, but by the 1930s it had succeeded only in drastically disrupting Native American life. Its present mandate from the U.S. Congress is to provide technical assistance to tribal governments, as well as to aid them in obtaining maximum benefits from Native American resources.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs is headed by an assistant secretary who is responsible for developing policies and programs and for seeing to their administration. The central headquarters is in Washington, D.C., but most of the bureau's employees and resources are scattered among its 84 agency offices on Native American reservations. Each agency is assigned to one of 12 bureau area offices, which serve as intermediaries between the agency offices and the central office in Washington, D.C. The bureau currently employs about 14,500 people, most of whom are Native Americans.

Programs of the Bureau of Indian Affairs fall into the general categories of education, technical assistance, economic development, and trust protection. It builds, maintains, and staffs schools on large reservations where public schools are inaccessible. It also sponsors vocational training and employment programs for adults on reservations and in urban areas. To tribal governments, the bureau offers technical advice and service on administrative procedures, construction, and economic development projects. It maintains a loan fund to assist individual and tribal businesses. The bureau also oversees the preservation and use of land and other valuable natural resources that are held in trust for tribes by the federal government. Public Law 93-638 (passed in 1975) offers new employment opportunities to tribes by permitting them to take over some bureau programs and services under federal contracts.

Elected tribal governments enjoy certain sovereign rights in their relations with the federal government. The challenge facing the Bureau of Indian Affairs is to implement congressional policy mandates without infringing on these rights.