Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan today announced that President Bush intends to nominate Eddie Frank Brown to be Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. Brown will assume his post at Interior following hearings before the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs and confirmation by the full Senate. He will be responsible for Interior programs serving more than 1.4 million Indians and Alaska Natives in the United States.
"Eddie Brown has a broad background in intergovernmental relations with Native Americans," Lujan said. "This, combined with his extensive social service education and prior experience at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, makes Eddie a welcome addition to the Department of the Interior."
Brown recently left his position as Director of the Arizona Department of Economic Security after two years in that post. Previously he spent one year as an Associate Professor and Director of Community Affairs at Arizona State University. In 1985, he was a Division Chief for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and prior to that he was Assistant Director of the Arizona Department of Economic Security.
Brown is a Tohono O'Odham/Yaqui Indian and a member of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe. He received his Bachelor of Social Science degree from Brigham Young University in 1970, and his Masters and Doctorate degrees in Social Work from the University of Utah in 1972 and 1975 respectively.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs' (BIA) primary responsibility is to encourage and support tribal efforts to govern themselves, and provide needed services and programs on reservations. The BIA is also responsible for managing more than 52 million acres of land held in trust by the United States for the Indians. The BIA also funds nearly 200 elementary and secondary schools, many of them operated by tribes under contract with the Bureau.
