Judge severs Interior Department Web connections again
Interior Department employees are once again experiencing a disruption in Internet service because a federal judge is not convinced the department has adequately secured electronic records of Native Americans' trust fund accounts.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ordered the department to cut off Web access for all workers except those at the National Park Service, the Office of Policy, Management and Budget, and the U.S. Geological Survey. Under the order, Interior can leave computer systems "essential for protection against fires or other threats to life or property" connected.
Interior officials on Tuesday blasted Lambert's latest order as "a new frontier in [the U.S. District Court for D.C.'s] efforts to run the operations of executive branch agencies." The ruling applies to computer systems that do not house data related to the Indian trust fund, officials noted in a statement.
Most portions of Interior's Web site also are down pursuant to the order, denying the public access to important services and information, the statement said. Students attending schools funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs lost Internet access as well. "This court-ordered shutdown will have the sad consequence of leaving every Indian student behind in [his or her] access to the Internet," the statement noted.
With the help of the Justice Department, Interior is ironing out a strategy for challenging Lamberth's order. But for now, Interior is "working to comply with this court order rapidly yet in a way that will not endanger the lives and property of the American people we serve," the statement said.
In an opinion accompanying his March 15 order, Lamberth explained that he is concerned that Interior no longer allows a court-appointed monitor to oversee efforts to secure electronic records of Native Americans' trust fund accounts.
The department agreed to use a monitor in December 2001, after the court first expressed concern over the security of the computer records. But Interior officials ended that relationship in July 2003, asking the court to let agency managers "self-monitor" and report progress at improving security.
That proposal is not acceptable, Lamberth said in Monday's ruling. Outside evaluators have found Interior's IT security "woeful," he said.
Lamberth added that he expects the Interior Department to protest his decision. "But the ranting of plaintiffs and the feigned [indignation] of Interior aside, there is simply no other alternative," he wrote in his ruling. "Interior brought this injunction upon [itself]."
The Indian trust accounts are the focus of an ongoing lawsuit between Native American groups and Interior, which manages the accounts. Groups pay Interior to use Indian lands for oil, gas and mineral extraction, as well as other activities, and Interior then distributes money to Native Americans through trust accounts. Native American groups alleged in the lawsuit that Interior has mismanaged the accounts for decades and, consequently, owes them billions of dollars.
Interior spokesmen could not provide an estimate of the number of computers or workers affected by Lamberth's latest order. Employees at the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Solicitor's Office already lacked Web access as a result of previous court orders, spokeswoman Joy Buhler said. But the court had allowed workers at other offices within the department to restore Internet connections following a disruption ordered in July 2003 over similar security concerns.
Lamberth first ordered the Interior Department to sever its Internet connections in December 2001. That order halted Web service for almost all of the department's workers and left the public unable to access information about national parks and public lands.
Interior restored most Internet connections during the first half of 2002 after Special Master Alan Balaran, a court-appointed monitor, verified that Indian records were not at risk of a security breach. Several offices, most notably the BIA, never received Balaran's approval and have remained offline.
The Internet blackout in 2001 came after Government Executive reported that the Indian Affairs' chief information officer had no confidence in the bureau's computer security. (See "Trail of Troubles," April 2001 Federal Performance Report) "I don't like running a network that can be breached by a high school kid," Bureau of Indian Affairs Chief Information Officer Dom Nessi told Government Executive at the time.