<< COB00001 >>
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
	ELOUISE PEPION COBELL, ~i	)
		)
	Plaintiffs,	)
		)
	V.	)	Case No. l:96CV01285
)	(Judge Laxnberth)
GALE A. NORTON, Secretary of the Interior et gL)
		)
	Defendants.	)
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR'S RESPONSE
To SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT OF THE SPECIAL MASTER
REGARDING THE SECURITY OF TRUST DATA
AT THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
	On November 14, 2001. the Special Master issued his Report and Recommendation of
the Special Master Regarding the Security of Trust Data at the Department of-Interior ("the
Special Master's Report"). In their November 29, 2001 Response to the Special Master's Report
("Response"), the Interior Defendants argued the Special Master's Report was not entitled to
review under the "clearly erroneous" standard of Fed.R.Civ.P. S3(~)(2) because it was not
accompanied by a "transcript of the proceedings and of the evidence and the original exhibits"
(Fed.R.Civ.P. 53(e)(1)) and did not identify all of the "government employees and private
contractors" interviewed. Response at 3 n. 3.
	On December 20, 2001, the Special Master filed his Supplemental Report which "briefly
sets out the methodology employed by the Special Master in obtaining the information which
formed the basis for the [Special Master's] Report." Supplemental Report at 2. The Special
Master also provided the parties with all documents which he consulted (jo. at 6) and identified
<< COB00002 >>
the persons interviewed in drafting the Special Master's Report (jo. at 2-4). The Supplemental
Report and the provision of the documents which the Special Master consulted address, for
purposes of the Special Masters Report,' the Interior Defendants' arguments noted above.
	The Supplemental Report does not address the substantive objections raised in the
interior Defendants' Response. As indicated in the Response, the Department of the Interior is
taking action to safeguard trust data and is addressing critical problems identified in the Special
Master's Report. Further, appointment of a receiver is neither warranted nor permissible under
applicabk law.
Respectfully submitted,
ROBERT D. McCALLUM, JR.
Assistant Attorney General
STUART E. SCHIYFER
Deputy Assistant Attorney General.
r
J.	CHRISTOPHER KQHN
Director, Bar No. 212357
SANDRA P. SPOONER
Deputy Director
JOHN T. STEMPLEWICZ
Senior Trial Attorney
MATThEW J. FADER
Trial Attorney
Commercial Litigation Branch
Civil Division
P.O. Box 875
Ben Franklin Station
I
	'Interior Defendants reserve the right to argue that future reports are not entitled to
deference if the procedural requirements of Fed.R.Civ.P. 53 and other applicable law are not
observed.
-2-
<< COB00003 >>
P.O. Box 875
Ben Franklin Station
Washington, D.C. 20044-0875
(202) 514-7194
OF COUNSEL:
Sabrina A. McCarthy
Department of the Interior
Office of the Solicitor
Dated:	December 31, 2001
-3-
<< COB00004 >>
CERT11~ICATE OF SERVICE
I declare under penalty of perjury that, on December 31, 20011 served the foregoing
Department of The Interior's Response to Supplemental Report of The Special Master Regarding The
Security of Trust Data at the Department of the Interior by facsimile upon:
Keith Harper, Esq.	Dennis M Gingold, Esq.
Native American Rights Fund	Mark Brown, Esq.
1712 N Street, NW	1275 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036-2976	Ninth Floor
202-822-0068	Washington, D.C. 20004
	202-318-2372
by facsimile and by U.S. mail upon:	and by hand:
Alan L. Balaran, Esq.	Joseph S. Kieffer, III
Special Master	Court Monitor
1717 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.	420- 7th Street, N.W.
12th Floor	Apartment 705
Washington, DC. 20006	Washington, D.C. 20004
(202) 986-8477
by U.S. Mail upon:
Elliott Levitas, Esq.
1100 Peachtree Street, Suite 2800
Atlanta, GA 30309-4530