Indian Affairs

Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs

Larry Echo Hawk
Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs

Biographical Statement of Larry Echo Hawk
Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs
U.S. Department of the Interior

Larry Echo Hawk, an enrolled member of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, was confirmed by the United States Senate as the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs for the U.S. Department of the Interior on May 19, 2009, and was sworn into office by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar on May 22, 2009.

Mr. Echo Hawk is the 11th Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs to be confirmed since the position was established by Congress in the 1970s. In addition to carrying out the Department’s trust responsibilities regarding the management of tribal and individual Indian trust lands and assets, the Assistant Secretary is responsible for promoting the self-determination and economic self-sufficiency of the nation’s 565 Federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and their 1.9 million enrolled members.

Prior to his appointment, Mr. Echo Hawk served for 14 years as a Professor of Law at Brigham Young University’s J. Reuben Clark Law School where he taught Federal Indian law, criminal law, criminal procedure, evidence, criminal trial practice, and published several scholarly papers.

A former U.S. Marine, Mr. Echo Hawk began his law career as a legal services attorney working for impoverished Indian people in California, then opened a private law office in Salt Lake City. In 1977, he was named Chief General Legal Counsel to the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in Idaho, a position he held for more than eight years. He became special counsel to the tribes in 1998. He is admitted to the bar in Idaho, Utah, and California.

Mr. Echo Hawk was elected Attorney General of Idaho in 1990, the first American Indian in U.S. history to achieve that distinction. He had served as the Bannock County (Idaho) Prosecuting Attorney since 1986. Before that, he served two consecutive terms in the Idaho House of Representatives, from 1982 to 1986.

Mr. Echo Hawk has served on the American Indian Services National Advisory Board and Board of Trustees. He was appointed by President Clinton to the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, which is responsible for coordinating the Federal Government’s efforts to combat juvenile delinquency in the United States. He also has served on the Indian Alcoholism Counseling and Recovery Housing Program, and the American Indian Community Resource Center Board.

Mr. Echo Hawk was born in Cody, Wyoming, where his father worked as a land surveyor in the oil and gas industry. He later moved with his family to Farmington, New Mexico, where he attended public schools from first grade through high school. His athletic achievements led to an NCAA football scholarship to attend Brigham Young University, where he was a member of the varsity football team from 1967 to 1969, playing in every game during his career. He started at safety as a junior and senior, leading the team and ranking fourth in the Western Athletic Conference with five interceptions as a junior in 1968. In 1969, he was named to the Western Athletic Conference All-Academic Football Team. He earned Academic All-Conference First Team honors as a senior. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from BYU in 1970.

Mr. Echo Hawk received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Utah in 1973 and attended the Stanford Graduate School of Business MBA Program from 1974 to 1975. He has received numerous awards and honors, including Distinguished Alumnus Awards from both Brigham Young University (1992) and the University of Utah (2003).

In 1991, Mr. Echo Hawk was awarded the George Washington University’s prestigious Martin Luther King medal for his contributions to human rights, and was honored as a speaker at the Democratic National Convention. As Idaho’s delegation chair, he became the first American Indian to lead a state delegation to a national political convention.

Mr. Echo Hawk also was honored in 1995 as the first BYU graduate ever to receive the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s prestigious Silver Anniversary Award, which is given to a select few prominent athletes who completed their collegiate athletic eligibility 25 years ago and have distinguished themselves in their careers and personal lives.

Mr. Echo Hawk, 60, and his wife Terry have six children and 23 grandchildren.

-DOI-

06/24/09

Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Affirms Status of Tejon Indian Tribe, Calif.

Corrected Letter sent to Tejon Indian Tribe, Calif. - January 06, 2012 - pdf 191kb

Press Release - January 3, 2012 - 35 kb

Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs' Progress of Empowerment Agenda

In a keynote address to the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) 2011 mid-year conference, Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk described the progress being made in a comprehensive agendea to restore integrity in U.S. government relations with American Indian and Alaska Native leaders, fulfill trust responsibilities to tribal members, and to work cooperatively to build stronger economies and safer tribal communities.

click here to download the document

6/14/2011

Memorandum of Understanding between U.S. Department of the Interior and The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

The purposes of this Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) are to identify areas of possible future collaboration by which the respective parties can work together effectively to enhance practical knowledge concerning economic development for Indian tribes and tribal communities.

Download it here.

Brief Summary of the Office of the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs

The Assistant Secretary–Indian Affairs assists and supports the Secretary of the Interior in fulfilling the United States’ trust responsibility to the Federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and villages and individual Indian trust beneficiaries, as well as in maintaining the Federal-Tribal government-to-government relationship.

The AS-IA is supported by the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs; the Deputy Assistant Secretary-Management, whose area includes the Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO), the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), the Office of Human Capital Management (OHCM), the Office of Planning and Policy Analysis (OPPA), and the Office of Facilities, Environmental and Cultural Resources (OFECR); and the Deputy Assistant Secretary-Policy and Economic Development, who oversees the Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED), the Office of Indian Gaming (OIG), and the Office of Self-Governance (OSG). The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), which has the Office of Indian Services (OIS), the Office of Field Operations (OFO), the Office of Justice Services (OJS), and the Office of Trust Services (OTS); the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE); the Office of External Affairs, which is comprised of the Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs (OCLA) and the Office of Public Affairs (OPA); the Office of Federal Acknowledgment (OFA); and the Office of Regulatory Management (ORM) also report directly to the AS-IA.

There have been ten AS-IAs since the post was established by DOI Secretarial order in 1977: Forrest J. Gerard, Blackfeet (1977-1980); Thomas W. Fredericks, Mandan-Hidatsa (1981); Kenneth L. Smith, Wasco (1981-1984); Ross O. Swimmer, Cherokee Nation (1985-1989); Dr. Eddie F. Brown, Tohono O’odham-Yaqui (1989-1993); Ada E. Deer, Menominee (1993-1997); Kevin Gover, Pawnee (1997-2001); Neal McCaleb, Chickasaw Nation (2001-2002); David W. Anderson, Lac Courte Oreilles Chippewa-Choctaw (2004-2005); and Carl J. Artman, Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin (2007-2008).

BIA Website