NAGPRA’s requirements for federal agencies, museums, and the Secretary  of the Interior, particularly the ones most relevant to their historical  collections, which were the focus of our July 2010 report, include the  following:    Compile an inventory and establish cultural affiliation. In accordance with NAGPRA’s implementing regulations,  National NAGPRA has developed a list of Indian tribes and Native  Hawaiian organizations for the purposes of carrying out the act. Finally, NAGPRA requires the establishment of a committee to monitor  and review the implementation of inventory, identification and  repatriation activities under the act. The NAGPRA Review Committee was  established in 1991. NMAI Act Requirements

The NMAI Act sections 11 and 13 generally require the Smithsonian to  (1) inventory the Indian and Native Hawaiian human remains and funerary  objects in its possession or control, (2) identify the origins of the Indian  and Native Hawaiian human remains and funerary objects using the “best  available scientific and historical documentation,” and (3) upon request  repatriate them to lineal descendants or culturally affiliated Indian tribes  and Native Hawaiian organizations. After Almost 20 Years, Key Federal Agencies Still Have Not Fully Complied with NAGPRA

As we reported in July 2010, federal agencies have not yet fully complied  with all of the requirements of NAGPRA. Finally, although the key agencies have  repatriated many NAGPRA items, repatriation activity has generally not  been tracked or reported governmentwide. All of the agencies acknowledged that  they still have additional work to do and some had not fully complied with  NAGPRA’s requirement to publish notices of inventory completion for all  of their culturally affiliated human remains and associated funerary  objects in the Federal Register. The Departments of Agriculture and the Interior and TVA  agreed with our recommendations. Through data provided by these three agencies, along with our  survey of other federal agencies, we found that federal agencies had  repatriated a total of 55 percent of human remains and 68 percent of  associated funerary objects that had been published in notices of  inventory completion as of September 30, 2009. Although  Smithsonian officials told us that the Smithsonian generally looks to  NAGPRA and the NAGPRA regulations as a guide to its repatriation  process, where appropriate, in a May 2010 letter commenting on the  NAGPRA regulation on disposition of culturally unidentifiable remains, the  Directors of the American Indian and Natural History Museums cited  overall disagreement with the regulation, suggesting that it “favors speed  and efficiency in making these dispositions at the expense of accuracy.”  Nevertheless, in our May 2011 report, we recommended that the  Smithsonian’s Board of Regents direct the Secretary and the American  Indian Museum’s Board of Trustees to develop policies for the Natural  History and American Indian Museums for the handling of items in their  collections that cannot be culturally affiliated to provide for a clear and  transparent repatriation process.
Why GAO Did This Study

The National Museum of the American Indian Act of 1989 (NMAI Act), as amended in 1996, generally requires the Smithsonian Institution to inventory and identify the origins of its Indian and Native Hawaiian human remains and objects placed with them (funerary objects) and repatriate them to culturally affiliated Indian tribes upon request. According to the Smithsonian, two of its museums--the American Indian and the Natural History Museums--have items that are subject to the NMAI Act. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), enacted in 1990, includes similar requirements for federal agencies and museums. The National NAGPRA office, within the Department of the Interior's National Park Service, facilitates the governmentwide implementation of NAGPRA. Each act requires the establishment of a committee to monitor and review repatriation activities. GAO's testimony is based on its July 2010 report on NAGPRA implementation (GAO-10-768) and its May 2011 report on Smithsonian repatriation (GAO-11-515). The testimony focuses on the extent to which key federal agencies have complied with NAGPRA's requirements and the extent to which the Smithsonian has fulfilled its repatriation requirements.

What GAO Found

GAO found that almost 20 years after NAGPRA was enacted, eight key federal agencies with significant historical collections--Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service; Agriculture's U.S. Forest Service; the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; and the Tennessee Valley Authority--have not fully complied with the requirements of the act. All of the agencies acknowledged that they still have additional work to do and some have not fully complied with NAGPRA's requirement to publish notices of inventory completion for all of their culturally affiliated human remains and associated funerary objects in the Federal Register. In addition, GAO found two areas of concern with the National NAGPRA office's activities. First, National NAGPRA had developed a list of Indian tribes for the purposes of carrying out NAGPRA that was inconsistent with BIA's official list of federally recognized tribes and an Interior legal opinion. Second, National NAGPRA did not always screen nominations for NAGPRA Review Committee positions properly. GAO found that repatriations were generally not tracked or reported governmentwide. However, based on GAO's compilation of federal agencies' repatriation data, through September 30, 2009, federal agencies had repatriated 55 percent of the human remains and 68 percent of the associated funerary objects that had been published in notices of inventory completion. The relevant agencies agreed with the recommendations in both reports and GAO is making no new recommendations at this time.