Intertribal Life Newspaper -

WASHINGTON-In October 2017, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke announced the selection of Bryan Rice, a veteran federal administrator and citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, as the new Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the federal agency that coordinates government-to-government relations with 567 federally recognized tribes in the United States.

"Bryan has a wealth of management expertise and experience that will well serve Indian Country as the BIA works to enhance the quality of life, promote economic opportunity, and carry out the federal responsibility to protect and improve the trust assets of American Indians, Indian tribes and Alaska Natives," Secretary Zinke said. "I have full confidence that Bryan is the right person at this pivotal time as we work to renew the department's focus on self-determination and self-governance, give power back to the tribes, and provide real meaning to the concept of tribal sovereignty."

Rice has broad experience leading Forestry, Wildland Fire, and Tribal programs across Interior, BIA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. His federal government career has spanned nearly 20 years, beginning with service for the U.S. Forest Service in Montana, as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Nepal and supervising timber operations on the Yakama Reservation and on the Tongass National Forest in Alaska. Rice has served in leadership capacities in Tanzania, Mexico, Brazil and Australia for both Interior and the U.S. Forest Service.

He has been Deputy Director for the BIA Office of Trust Services and Director of Forest Management in the U.S. Forest Service from 2014 to 2016.

"Native Americans face significant regulatory and bureaucratic hurdles to economic freedom and success," Rice said. "I am honored to accept this position and look forward to implementing President Trump's and Secretary Zinke's regulatory reform initiative for Indian Country to liberate Native Americans from the bureaucracy that has held them back economically."

The BIA carries out its core mission through four offices: the Office of Indian Services operates the BIA's general assistance, disaster relief, Indian child welfare, tribal government, Indian Self-Determination, and reservation roads programs; the Office of Justice Services directly operates or funds law enforcement, tribal courts, and detention facilities on Federal Indian lands; the Office of Trust Services works with tribes and individual American Indians and Alaska Natives in the management of their trust lands, assets, and resources; and the Office of Field Operations oversees 12 regional offices and 83 agencies which carry out the BIA mission at the tribal level. In 2017, the BIA had 4,794 employees and a budget of $1.9 billion.