[Senate Prints 115-17]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]








                                                         S. Prt. 115-17

       AMBER ALERTS AND TAKING LAND INTO TRUST IN INDIAN COUNTRY

=======================================================================

                           LISTENING SESSION

                               before the

                      COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS
                          UNITED STATES SENATE

                     ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS

                             FIRST SESSION

                               __________

                              MAY 10, 2017

                               __________

         Printed for the use of the Committee on Indian Affairs





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                      COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS

                  JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota, Chairman
                  TOM UDALL, New Mexico, Vice Chairman
JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming               MARIA CANTWELL, Washington
JOHN McCAIN, Arizona                 JON TESTER, Montana,
LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska               AL FRANKEN, Minnesota
JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma             BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii
STEVE DAINES, Montana                HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota
MIKE CRAPO, Idaho                    CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO, Nevada
JERRY MORAN, Kansas
     T. Michael Andrews, Majority Staff Director and Chief Counsel
       Jennifer Romero, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
                            C O N T E N T S

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                                                                   Page
Listening session held on May 10, 2017...........................     1
Statement of Senator Cortez Masto................................    23
Statement of Senator McCain......................................     1
Statement of Senator Udall.......................................    21

                               Witnesses

Clement, Charles, President/CEO, Southeast Alaska Regional Health 
  Consortium.....................................................    27
    Prepared statement...........................................    29
Crotty, Hon. Amber Kanazbah, Delegate, 23rd Navajo Nation Council    10
    Prepared statement...........................................    11
Garry, Eileen M., Acting Administrator, Office of Juvenile 
  Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice.     2
    Prepared statement...........................................     3
Walters, Jim, Program Administrator, National Criminal Justice 
  Training Center................................................     6
    Prepared statement...........................................     8

                                Appendix

Buchanan, RADM Chris R.E.H.S., M.P.H., Assistant Surgeon General, 
  USPHS; Acting Director, Indian Health Service, U. S. Department 
  of Health and Human Services, prepared statement...............    39

 
       AMBER ALERTS AND TAKING LAND INTO TRUST IN INDIAN COUNTRY

                              ----------                              


                        WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 2017


                                       U.S. Senate,
                               Committee on Indian Affairs,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:30 p.m. in room 
628, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. John McCain, 
presiding.

                STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN McCAIN, 
                   U.S. SENATOR FROM ARIZONA

    Senator McCain. Unfortunately, due to the state of 
partisanship in the United States Senate today and outside 
events that have certainly caused a lot of turbulence here in 
the Nation's Capital that our Democrat friends have decided to 
object to committee hearings to be held today. That is their 
right to do so. I do not deny them that right.
    What it has done is prevented us from having an important 
hearing today. Therefore, the Chairman, who I hope will be here 
shortly, because people have come from other places. We do not 
want to keep them from being heard as we discuss this bill.
    This is not a hearing per se but it will be a listening 
session. Only in Washington could we do that kind of 
foolishness.
    I am obviously very committed on this issue and this 
legislation as are our witnesses, so we are going to have a 
listening session. The bill, as our witnesses know, would 
reauthorize a grant program that is operated by the U.S. 
Department of Justice that assists local governments in 
developing their Amber Alert communications plans.
    The bill would also clarify that Indian tribes are eligible 
for Amber Alert grants. Currently, tribes which participate in 
this grant program do so under a DOJ pilot initiative.
    Further, the bill would require the Department of Justice 
to impel stricter transparency and accountability standards for 
how tribal governments use these grants. Finally, the bill 
directs the Department of Justice to complete a needs 
assessment all across Indian Country.
    I thank you for being here because you care about the 
safety of Native American children living on reservations. 
According to data produced by the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation, there are more than 7,700 American Indian 
children listed as missing in the United States of America. I 
repeat there are more than 7,700 American Indian children are 
listed as missing in the United States of America.
    Last year, the Navajo community was devastated by the 
abduction and murder of 11-year-old Ashlynne Mike. In that high 
profile case, authorities did not issue an Amber Alert for 
Ashlynne until the day after family members reported her 
abduction.
    Part of the reason for the delayed alert is that 
complications arise when issuing alerts across the multiple 
jurisdictions that span the Navajo Reservation, including three 
States and 12 different counties. This is a problem for any 
Indian tribe with a large rural land base.
    This grant program can help Indian tribes hire an in-house 
Amber Alert coordinator to develop, train and implement 
communication plans necessary to address child abduction 
emergencies.
    I will be encouraging my colleagues to support this 
legislation. I want to emphasize, in keeping with Senate rules, 
this is not a hearing. This is a listening session and will not 
be listed as a hearing.
    I am here to listen. The reason I think it is okay to have 
it as a listening session is because I think every day we wait 
to pass this legislation, there is another child whose life is 
in danger. I think there is some urgency to this issue.
    Ms. Garry, you are the Acting Administrator of the Office 
of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention at the U.S. 
Department of Justice. Mr. Walters, you are the Program 
Administrator of the National Criminal Justice Training Center 
of Royse City, Texas. Mr. Charles Clement is the Chief 
Executive Officer of the Southeast Alaska Regional Health 
Consortium Juneau, Alaska.
    Ms. Garry, maybe we could begin with comments from you in 
this listening session.

 STATEMENT OF EILEEN M. GARRY, ACTING ADMINISTRATOR, OFFICE OF 
               JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY 
             PREVENTION, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

    Ms. Garry. Thank you, Senator McCain. It is an honor to be 
here this afternoon.
    I appreciate this opportunity to discuss the Amber Alert 
Program and its value to our Nation's tribal communities.
    As the Acting Administrator of the Office of Juvenile 
Justice and Delinquency Prevention, I oversee a number of 
Federal initiatives designed to protect children and support 
tribal youth.
    Before taking my current post in January, I spent 15 years 
as the Deputy Director of the Justice Department's Bureau of 
Justice Assistance. Much of my work there involved outreach to 
tribes through a host of criminal justice programs.
    During my time at BJA, I helped lead a major effort called 
``The Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation,'' which 
streamlined many of the department's grant programs to make 
them more accessible to tribal applicants. We have awarded more 
than $727 million to tribes under the CTAS Initiative.
    I also served as the Deputy Executive Director for the 
Indian Law and Order Commission. The Commission's role is to 
study criminal justice in Indian Country and to recommend 
improvements at the tribal, Federal and State levels.
    We produced a landmark report with three major categories 
of recommendations: one, improving Federal accountability; two, 
expanding tribal authority; and three, strengthening the 
partnerships between tribal, Federal and State officials. I 
believe our work was a major contribution to tribal self 
determination and tribal safety.
    I consider my work with American Indian and Alaska Native 
tribes to be among the most rewarding experiences of my entire 
career. I am proud to be a part of a Department of Justice that 
stands behind our tribal partners.
    One of my highest priorities is making sure tribes have the 
resources they need to keep their children safe. An effective 
Amber Alert Program is key to that goal. Amber Alert has helped 
to recover hundreds of abducted children and return them safely 
to their families, but there is still much work to be done.
    That is why my office, in coordination with our partners at 
the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Fox 
Valley Technical College, is working together to strengthen the 
Amber Alert Program as a whole and in Indian Country, in 
particular.
    Since fiscal year 2013, we have invested more than $7.2 
million in training and technical assistance to help tribes, 
local jurisdictions and States expand their capacity to rescue 
abducted children. We expect to make more funding available 
this year for training and technical assistance.
    As part of that program, we have a tribal database of 
training opportunities covering topics like child sex 
trafficking, working with tribal law enforcement, and managing 
child abduction response teams.
    We have conducted a Tribal Child Protection Leadership 
Forum which brought together tribal public safety leaders and 
Federal, State and local partners to discuss the many 
challenges around protecting children in Indian Country.
    We are planning a symposium next month in Bismarck, North 
Dakota to talk about the emerging threat of child sex 
trafficking and exploitation. We have invited tribal 
representatives to take part in a National Amber Alert 
Coordinator Symposium to be held in June.
    We are taking these steps because we understand the life 
and death importance of a seamless Amber Alert Program. Our 
goal at the Department of Justice is an Amber Alert system that 
is as effective in Indian Country as it is in the busy 
metropolitan areas of our Nation.
    I thank you for giving this issue the attention it 
deserves. I am grateful for your time and for your leadership. 
I appreciate all the support you continue to give to our tribal 
programs.
    Thank you.
    [The prepared statement of Ms. Garry follows:]

Prepared Statement of Eileen M. Garry, Acting Administrator, Office of 
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice
    Chairman Hoeven, Vice Chairman Udall, and Members of the Committee, 
thank you for this opportunity to discuss AMBER Alert grants in Indian 
country. I am Eileen Garry, the Acting Administrator of the Office of 
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) at the Department 
of Justice's Office of Justice Programs (OJP). I oversee state, local 
and tribal juvenile justice programs, and child protection activities. 
Prior to being named Acting OJJDP Administrator in January 2017, I 
served for 15 years as Deputy Director of the Department's Bureau of 
Justice Assistance (BJA) where I developed and administered grant 
programs, led tribal affairs and oversaw all planning, management, and 
budget activities of BJA, among other things. During my time at BJA, I 
helped lead the Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation, which 
streamlined the application process for many of the Department's grant 
programs to make them more accessible to tribal applicants. We have 
awarded more than $727 million to tribes under this initiative.
    I also served as Deputy Executive Director for the Indian Law and 
Order Commission. My work with American Indian and Alaska Native tribes 
has been a rewarding experience, and I have been proud to be part of 
the Department's long-standing work supporting our tribal partners. 
Whether it is through law enforcement funding, supporting tribal 
victims of crime, addressing sexual assault or examining the effects of 
trauma on tribal youth, the Department is committed to responding to 
challenges facing those who live in Indian country.
    Ensuring that the National AMBER Alert program is responsive to 
American Indian and Alaska Native children who are abducted goes hand 
in hand with the Justice Department's existing efforts in Indian 
country.
    As the Committee knows, the AMBER Alert system became operational 
in 1996. It was the result of a collaboration between local police and 
broadcasters in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, region to help find 
abducted children. ``AMBER'' is an abbreviation for ``America's 
Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response,'' and was named in memory of a 
9-year-old girl from Arlington, Texas, Amber Hagerman, who was 
kidnapped and brutally murdered. Although AMBER Alert programs were 
being implemented in some states, it was not until 2002, when President 
Bush appointed the first National AMBER Alert Coordinator, that the 
issue began receiving nationwide support. In 2003, President Bush 
signed into law the PROTECT Act, which strengthened law enforcement 
efforts to prevent, investigate and prosecute crimes against children. 
By 2005, all 50 states developed AMBER Alert plans.
    Under existing statutes, including the PROTECT Act, the Department 
is authorized to provide grants to states, offer training and technical 
assistance to those developing or managing AMBER Alert programs and 
issue guidance to states and local jurisdictions to ensure that 
programs are effective, uniform and sustainable.
    Since its inception in 2002, the AMBER Alert Training and Technical 
Assistance program has trained 95,448 law enforcement officers, child 
protection officials, and dispatchers. This OJJDP program functions in 
coordination with other missing and exploited children programs funded 
by the Department of Justice, as well as other federal agencies.
    A critical role of the Department is to develop and disseminate 
recommended guidelines for states on how and when to issue AMBER 
Alerts. Specifically, the Amber Alert system works when the following 5 
steps are engaged: (1) law enforcement confirms that an abduction has 
occurred, (2) the child is 17 years old or younger; (3) the child is at 
risk of serious injury or death as a result of the abduction, (4) 
descriptions of the child and captor are obtained; and (5) information 
about the abduction is entered immediately into the FBI's National 
Crime Information Center.
    In order for this system to work at peak effectiveness, OJJDP has 
funded the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) to 
operate the AMBER Alert Secondary Distribution system. The AMBER Alert 
Secondary Distribution system, known as AASD, is comprised of wireless 
carriers, Internet service providers, digital signage, social 
networking websites, content providers and major retailers who 
distribute AMBER Alerts to a geographically targeted audience in 
support of the AMBER Alert coordinator. These alerts assist in 
notifying the public about recently reported child abductions with 
information to help in the search for the abducted child, suspected 
abductor, and/or suspected vehicle. Tribes can take advantage of these 
NCMEC resources, which include sending and receiving AMBER Alerts. 
NCMEC automatically contacts the tribe or activating agency upon the 
report of an abduction.
    In addition to providing grant support and guidance to states and 
local jurisdictions, we have achieved significant progress in locating 
missing children since the enactment of the PROTECT Act. This is due, 
in part, to technological advancements, particularly information 
sharing on social media platforms such as Facebook and Google traffic 
alerts, and to extensive nationwide coordination efforts with 
organizations like the National Center for Missing and Exploited 
Children, the Wireless Foundation and the Ad Council.
    Since the fiscal year 2013, OJJDP has invested more than $7.2 
million in critical training and technical assistance to help states, 
local jurisdictions, and tribes expand their capacity to rescue 
abducted children. In order to continue these efforts, OJJDP issued a 
competitive solicitation for the National AMBER Alert Training and 
Technical Assistance Program for FY 2017. Tribal nonprofit and for-
profit organizations, as well as tribal institutions of higher learning 
were eligible under this solicitation. The competitive solicitation was 
released on December 5, 2016, and closed on February 6, 2017, and thus 
the applications for this funding are still under review. OJP has not 
yet made final FY 2017 funding decisions.
    While our AMBER Alert efforts cover all 50 states and even address 
child abductions that cross our borders with Canada and Mexico, we are 
keenly aware that American Indian tribes and Alaska Native villages 
face unique challenges. Some of these challenges include navigating 
tribal, federal, and state jurisdictions; limited 911 systems; and 
shortages of data management tools, dispatch systems and software 
needed for disseminating critical information in the aftermath of an 
abduction. As early as 2007, the Justice Department consulted with 
tribes on how to implement and improve the AMBER Alert program in their 
communities. That year, ten tribal sites were selected to pilot the 
Department's AMBER Alert in Indian Country Initiative. They served as 
demonstration sites to help expand the AMBER Alert program into Indian 
counrty and bridge the gap between tribal communities and state and 
regional programs across the country. The tribal communities selected 
to participate in the initiative were Pueblo of Acoma; Hopi Tribe of 
Arizona; Pueblo of Laguna; Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New 
Mexico; The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma ; the Crow Tribe of Montana; the 
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians; Gila River Indian Community of the 
Gila River Reservation, Arizona; Navajo Nation of Arizona, New Mexico 
and Utah; Northern Arapaho Tribe of the Wind River Reservation; Salt 
River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community of the Salt River Reservation; the 
Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska; and Confederated Tribes and Bands of the 
Yakama Nation. The initiative helped tribal communities develop and 
implement AMBER Alert plans and provided interoperability, 
infrastructure and equipment resources to meet the specific needs of 
tribal communities.
    In September 2015, the AMBER Alert Training and Technical 
Assistance Program launched a tribal database that serves as a resource 
for tribal law enforcement, child protective services professionals and 
members of local communities. Training available through the tribal 
database covers topics such as working with tribal law enforcement, 
child sex trafficking, interviewing high-risk juveniles and child 
abduction response teams. This resource is available to all tribes, and 
although it is currently in the outreach and education phase, it has 
the potential to be used as a central depository for tribal community 
child protection program assessments that would help make tribes aware 
of the benefits and resources available.
    Another vital resource we have made available is the Tribal Child 
Protection Leadership Forum. This event, conducted last year in 
Scottsdale, Arizona, enabled tribal public safety leaders to come 
together with OJJDP leadership and state, local and federal partners to 
discuss available resources and best practices to address the many 
challenges around protecting children in Indian Country. We are also 
planning the Tribal Child Protection Symposium, which is open to tribes 
in the region. We expect tribes from North Dakota, South Dakota, 
Montana, Wyoming and Minnesota to participate. This event, scheduled 
for June in Bismarck, North Dakota, will focus on the emerging threat 
of child sex trafficking and exploitation among tribal communities in 
the Dakotas and Montana. Federal, state, local and tribal partners will 
collaborate on developing community programs to prevent and eliminate 
the trafficking and exploitation of tribal youth. In addition, 
representatives from tribes who have implemented AMBER Alert plans in 
their communities will take part in the OJJDP-sponsored 2017 National 
AMBER Alert Coordinators Symposium, to be held this June in Minnesota. 
This event will provide an opportunity for tribal coordinators to 
collaborate directly with their state and regional AMBER Alert peers 
and to exchange information on emerging technology and best practices.
    Notwithstanding the progress and numerous success stories that have 
resulted from the AMBER Alert program, there are opportunities for 
improvement in tribal communities. For example, tribal leaders and the 
Justice Department have explored creating an emergency alert system, as 
well as improving the efficiency of the current system.
    In its two decades of existence, AMBER Alert has been instrumental 
in safely recovering hundreds of abducted children, and it is important 
to continue our collective work to strengthen this vital public safety 
tool, especially in remote and often under-resourced areas of Indian 
country. For example, since 2005, 50 Native American children featured 
in AMBER Alerts have been recovered.
    Thank you for your leadership and your continued support of our 
tribal programs and partnerships. I appreciate this opportunity to 
testify on behalf of the Justice Department, and I look forward to 
answering your questions.

    Senator McCain. Thank you.
    Mr. Walters.

   STATEMENT OF JIM WALTERS, PROGRAM ADMINISTRATOR, NATIONAL 
                CRIMINAL JUSTICE TRAINING CENTER

    Mr. Walters. Good afternoon, Senator McCain.
    In my role with the National Criminal Justice Training 
Center, I am the Program Administrator responsible for manning 
NCJTC's Amber Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program 
out of the Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice 
and Delinquency Prevention.
    I wanted to thank you as well for this opportunity to come 
today to discuss the issue of making tribal communities 
eligible to apply for Amber Alert grants.
    This topic is important to me because I have worked and 
lived in tribal communities for over 30 years. My primary focus 
has been on investigations, primarily in the area of child 
abductions. This topic is important across Indian Country.
    You referenced the case of Ashlynne Mike. A little over a 
year ago on May 2, 2016, 11-year-old Ashlynne Mike and her 
younger brother were abducted near Shiprock, New Mexico on the 
Navajo Nation.
    Ashlynne's younger brother was able to escape from their 
abductor. He ran through the desert to seek help. He later 
returned to assist in the search for his sister but tragically, 
she was murdered by her abductor before help could arrive or 
she could be saved.
    This Committee's focus on this issue is timely, it is 
relevant and it is terribly important. Ashlynne's case 
demonstrates the need for Amber Alert programs to be 
statutorily connected not just to the States, but also to the 
tribes to give them equal footing.
    History has taught that when a child is abducted, time is 
the enemy. In those child abduction cases where homicide is the 
outcome, in approximately 76 percent of those cases, the child 
is murdered within the first three hours after the abduction.
    The abductor will generally take the child from the place 
they were last seen, move that child to another location to 
both avoid detection and allow them to have the opportunity to 
carry out whatever motivation or fantasy it was that drove them 
to take that child.
    This is when the child is at greatest risk. The abductor 
may release the child on their own or they may just as likely 
kill the child to prevent apprehension or to prevent detection. 
It is crucial, therefore, that officials be able to immediately 
assess the circumstances surrounding that abduction, deploy the 
resources necessary and alert the public so the public can be 
involved in the process of helping to find that child and 
locating them before harm comes to the child.
    Amber Alert is the tool that supports this process. It 
improves the chances of safely recovering the abducted child. 
To date, Amber Alerts have resulted in the safe recovery of 868 
children in our Nation.
    The Amber Alert plans that were created by the PROTECT ACT 
of 2003 created a nationwide system that enabled law 
enforcement agencies across the Country to alert the public 
when a child was abducted.
    The PROTECT ACT did not fully consider the need for Amber 
Alert plans on tribal lands. Noticeably absent was any 
statutory mention of tribal participation.
    In 2007, the Amber Alert in Indian Country Pilot Project 
was launched within the Department of Justice to develop 
capabilities and capacity within tribal communities to respond 
to abducted, endangered, missing and exploited children.
    The pilot sites in that initial program underwent 
assessments of their capabilities that showed us that most 
tribes did not have the adequate infrastructure to create Amber 
Alert systems on their own.
    The project also involved delivering training and technical 
assistance to tribal communities to improve the capabilities of 
tribal officers who, in most cases, do not have the access to 
specialized training in that area.
    A key concept of this training is to recognize the cultural 
aspects of tribal communities and engage the community in 
efforts to recover the missing child. I was a part of that 
program and the pilot program was highly successful.
    The participating tribes demonstrated that if access to the 
State Amber plans, the right tools, technology and training, 
they could provide the same level of service to their 
communities as their State and local counterparts.
    An important concept of this legislation is that it 
provides Congress with an assessment of the capabilities and 
status of Amber Alert programs serving tribal communities. The 
results would also be used to guide training and technical 
assistance for tribal communities to help develop and sustain 
Amber Alert programs that remain in place through changes in 
Administration.
    I would stress that the needs and challenges among tribes 
vary. Just like the States, there is no one size fits all 
solution. I applaud this Committee for considering a strong 
piece of legislation. There is no substitute for making sure 
that the statute specifically recognizes tribal needs and works 
within a framework that understands the unique challenges 
facing Indian tribes.
    As a practitioner who has worked in Indian Country and an 
investigator who has conducted child abduction investigations, 
I am acutely aware of the need for tribes to have the ability 
to implement Amber Alert in their communities.
    I was at Shiprock just days after the abduction of Ashlynne 
Mike. I got to know her family and members of the Navajo 
community who were affected by this tragedy. I spoke with 
Ashlynne's mother, Pamela, before coming to this meeting.
    The message she sent to the Committee was to express her 
desire that Ashlynne's legacy and what comes out of this would 
be a law that would bring Amber Alert to the tribes and 
hopefully help prevent other Native families from suffering the 
tragedy her family has suffered.
    I thank you for your time.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Walters follows:]

  Prepared Statement of Jim Walters, Program Administrator, National 
                    Criminal Justice Training Center
    Good afternoon, Chairman Hoeven, Vice Chairman Udall, and members 
of the Committee. My name is Jim Walters, and I am a Program 
Administrator with Fox Valley Technical College's National Criminal 
Justice Training Center (NCJTC). I am responsible for managing NCJTC's 
work for the US Department of Justice's (DOJ) AMBER Alert Training and 
Technical Assistance Program which is funded by DOJ's office of 
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency prevention (OJJDP).
    Thank you for this opportunity to meet with you today to discuss 
the issue of making tribal communities eligible for applying for grants 
to implement AMBER Alert plans. This topic is important to me because I 
have worked in law enforcement and with tribal communities for three 
decades, with a focus on investigations--particularly in child 
abductions.
    Just over a year ago, on May 2nd, 2016, eleven-year-old Ashlynne 
Mike and her younger brother were abducted near their home in Shiprock, 
New Mexico, on the Navajo Reservation. Ashlynne's nine year old brother 
was able to escape their abductor and run through the desert to seek 
help and then assisted in the search for his sister. Tragically, 
Ashlynne was brutally murdered by their abductor before help could 
arrive.
    The Committee's focus on this issue is timely, relevant, and 
terribly important. Ashlynne's case demonstrates the need for the AMBER 
program to be statutorily connected not just to the states but to the 
tribes.
    History has taught us that when a child is abducted time is the 
enemy. Research has shown that in cases where homicide is the outcome, 
approximately 76 percent of those victims are killed within three hours 
of the abduction. We also know that there is generally a sequence of 
events that follows an abduction. The abductor will take the child away 
from the initial contact site to another location both to avoid 
detection and to allow for the opportunity to carry out whatever 
fantasy or motivation that compelled them to take the child.
    It is during this time that the child is at greatest risk. The 
abductor may release the child on their own or they may just as easily 
kill the child to avoid apprehension. These dynamics make it crucial 
that officials immediately assess the circumstances of the abduction, 
deploy resources, and alert the public to increase the probability of 
safely locating the child before the abductor can harm them.
    The AMBER Alert is the tool that supports this process and improves 
the chances of safely recovering the abducted child. AMBER Alerts have 
resulted in the safe recovery of 868 children. It exists in all 50 
states because Congress took the steps to support state efforts to 
refine, standardize, and support this work.
    The PROTECT Act, signed into law on April 30, 2003, comprehensively 
strengthened law enforcement's ability to prevent, investigate, 
prosecute, and punish violent crimes committed against children. The 
Act codified the previously-established National AMBER Alert 
Coordinator role in the U.S. Department of Justice and lead to the 
development of a national AMBER Alert strategy. The responsibility for 
this program has been assigned to the Assistant Attorney General for 
the Office of Justice Programs.
    The AMBER Alert plans created through the PROTECT Act created a 
nationwide system that enabled law enforcement agencies across the 
country to alert the public when a child was abducted.
    What the PROTECT Act did not fully consider was the need for AMBER 
Alert plans on tribal lands. The AMBER Alert program statutory language 
is relatively straightforward. It reads ``Program Required.--The 
Attorney General shall carry out a program to provide grants to States 
for the development or enhancement of programs and activities for the 
support of AMBER Alert communications plans.'' Noticeably absent is any 
statutory mention of tribal participation.
    In 2007, the AMBER in Indian Country pilot project was launched 
within the Department of Justice (grant number 2007-DD-BX-K074), 
providing an unprecedented opportunity to develop capabilities and 
capacity within tribal communities to respond to abducted, endangered 
missing and exploited children.
    The goal of the pilot project was to support the recovery of 
missing and abducted children by providing interoperability, 
infrastructure, and resources to meet the specific needs of tribal 
communities. Pilot tribes underwent in-depth assessments of their 
infrastructure and capability to respond to endangered missing and 
abducted children. The assessments found that most tribes did not have 
adequate call intake and case management systems; and many faced 
infrastructure limitations which made it impossible to create their own 
plan or partner with the State AMBER Alert plan.
    This pilot project also involved delivering training and technical 
assistance in tribal communities to improve the capabilities of tribal 
officers. This was important because the skills of investigators, 
supervisors and first responders in regard to endangered, missing, 
abducted and/or exploited children are perishable skills.
    In most cases, tribal officers do not have access to specialized 
training in this area outside what is provided by the Amber Alert 
Technical and Training Program (AATTP) and the National Center for 
Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
    A key concept of this training is to recognize the cultural aspects 
of tribal communities, and to engage the community in the efforts to 
recover the missing child. We partnered with First Pic Inc. out of 
Gambrills, MD to provide cultural experts to assist in this area.
    The pilot program was highly successful. The participating tribes 
demonstrated that with access to their State AMBER Alert plans, the 
right tools, technology and training they could provide the same level 
of service to their communities as their state and local counterparts.
    Senate bill 772 would provide tribes the opportunity to undergo an 
assessment of their capabilities and identify gaps in service delivery 
so that they could develop plans that fit the needs of their specific 
tribe and give them the tools needed to bring AMBER Alert to their 
community. It would provide Congress with an assessment of those 
capabilities and the status of AMBER Alert programs serving tribal 
communities across the county. The results would also be used to guide 
training and facilitate technical assistance activities for tribal 
communities to help develop and sustain AMBER Alert programs that would 
remain in place through changes in tribal administrations.
    I would stress that needs and challenges among the tribes vary. 
Just like the States, there is no ``one size fits all solution''.
    I would encourage you to work with the Department of Justice to 
ensure that there is an appropriate focus on this initial assessment of 
tribal needs. States have had an opportunity to participate in the 
federal-state AMBER Alert partnership for more than a decade. The 
tribal experience has been much more limited.
    I applaud the Committee for considering this strong piece of 
legislation. There is no substitute for making sure that the statute 
specifically recognizes the tribal needs and works within a framework 
that understands the unique challenges facing Indian tribes.
    As a practitioner who has worked in Indian Country for over 30 
years and an investigator who has conducted child abduction 
investigations, I am acutely aware of the need for tribes to have the 
ability to implement AMBER Alert in their communities.
    Senators, I was at Shiprock in New Mexico just days after the 
abduction and murder of Ashlynne Mike. I have gotten to know her family 
and other members of the Navajo community who were impacted by this 
tragedy.
    I spoke to her mother Pamela before this meeting. The message that 
she gave to me for you was to express her hope that Ashlynne's legacy 
would be the establishment of a law to bring AMBER Alert to tribes and 
prevent other Native families from experiencing the terrible pain that 
comes with the loss of a child.
    Thank you for the opportunity to testify on this vitally important 
issue. I would be pleased to answer any questions that you may have and 
provide any additional information that may assist the Committee.

    Senator McCain. Thank you very much.
    Mr. Clement, welcome.
    Mr. Clement. Senator, thank you very much for the 
opportunity to share a little bit with you this afternoon. If 
it pleases the Committee, I will be speaking regarding Senate 
Bill 825. I do not know if Ms. Crotty would like to speak to 
the Amber Alert bill prior to that.
    Senator McCain. Yes. Ms. Crotty, welcome. This is not a 
hearing. It is a listening session. Mr. Clement, I think we 
will hold yours if that is okay. I love Alaska, but I think it 
would be important for other members of the Committee to hear 
your views on that legislation as well.
    Welcome, Ms. Crotty.

STATEMENT OF HON. AMBER KANAZBAH CROTTY, DELEGATE, 23rd NAVAJO 
                         NATION COUNCIL

    Ms. Crotty. Ya'at'eeh (Hello)
    I am Amber Kanazbah Crotty with the Navajo Nation Council.
    I want to thank Senator McCain for inviting the Navajo 
Nation to testify on this very important matter and to voice 
our support for your bill, S. 772, the Amber Alert in Indian 
Country. We believe it is paramount and time that Indian 
Country is eligible for this Federal funding that not only 
would provide training but sustain Amber Alert in Indian 
Country.
    I would like to extend our greatest gratitude to the 
Committee as other members join us. Senator McCain, I want to 
make sure that you are especially appreciated for sponsoring 
this bill.
    When we talk about Ashlynne, clanwise, Ashlynne is 
considered our daughter. Pamela and Gary have been very 
generous in continuing family and kinship relations so not only 
do we talk about what happened to Ashlynne and how our hearts 
were broken after she was abducted and taken, but we remember 
her light, we remember her smile, her giggles and in her quiet 
way, how she provided the beautiful harmony of her xylophone.
    Senator, it is very hard to be able to talk about Ashlynne 
and not think about what were her final moments in life and 
then look at leadership and say how can we help as leaders. I 
deeply and at the core values of my being appreciate the Senate 
Bill 772.
    When Ashlynne was taken and abducted and little Ian was 
found, he tried his best to describe what had happened to them. 
In all that confusion and chaos, we are concerned that Navajo 
Nation at the time simply did not have the right communication 
plan and the right protocol to issue the Amber Alert.
    Currently the Nation is finalizing a solid communication 
plan working with our partners, our Federal partners, our State 
partners and forcing the Navajo Nation to not only finalize but 
to coordinate all of our resources.
    What has come to our attention and continues to provide 
deep concern to myself is at this time, Navajo Nation continues 
to rely on the State entities to issue the Amber Alert. For 
example, recently in the State of Arizona on the Arizona side 
of our Nation, a child was taken.
    The abduction met the protocol of the Amber Alert but when 
our dispatcher called the New Mexico State side, however New 
Mexico State analyzes what this case would be, it was not 
considered an Amber Alert and was just considered a person who 
was endangered.
    At this point, Senator, those are some of the issues we 
have when Navajo Nation has to rely on other States to 
determine the status of our children. As a Nation and a 
community, we ultimately want to have the responsibility that 
if any child abducted, we understand that every minute counts 
and the more time that passes, it can be very difficult to 
recover that child.
    As we move forward to establish the Amber Alert system and 
creating this communication plan, we are looking at the 
software that can be uniquely used on Navajo. Not only are we 
within three States of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, but we 
also have to coordinate with 11 different counties.
    I do want to mention there is also a very serious need in 
terms of not only fully implementing an Amber Alert system on 
the Navajo Nation but once that alert is activated, then an 
issue on Navajo Nation is the necessary infrastructure.
    The Navajo Nation spans over 27,000 square miles which is 
roughly the size of West Virginia. It has vast differences 
between cellular towers which results in numerous areas of dark 
zones.
    Senator, you will be provided additional information where 
in our estimates, nearly 40 percent of the Navajo Nation has 
some type of either dark communication or lack of cellular 
service. If we have this non-existent cellular service 
coverage, how can we alert our people of a child abduction if 
we are not reaching all of our Navajo Nation citizens.
    This is an issue that we and many other tribes are still 
addressing in this mode era. As a Nation that functions within 
our government, it is in the best interest that our people 
implement and manage its own Amber Alert system.
    I can say as a mother and a community member, when we 
receive the call through the school system notifying parents to 
pick up their children, that type of fear that resonated 
through the community really put pressure on not only 
leadership but to make sure we have the infrastructure we need, 
that we have the alert system in place and are taking every 
step possible to protect and recover our children.
    I appreciate, Senator, your vision in initiating this 
discussion, not only with the Navajo Nation but recognizing 
that every child's life is of value, that every child deserves 
the right to be rescued, that every child deserves the right 
for their community to be able to look for them, to get them 
home safe and this will prevent future possible abductions.
    The vast majority of Indian Country is rural. We understand 
the barriers and concerns that come with ensuring protections 
for our children. We want to voice our support for this bill 
and hope that you can ensure this legislation is passed in a 
bipartisan manner.
    We appreciate, Senator McCain, your leadership, your 
outstanding partnership and the work of Cindy McCain. I 
appreciate the work in terms of human trafficking because the 
topic right now is Amber Alert. We have a vast number of 
children who are missing from the Navajo Nation and we are 
concerned about their whereabouts.
    We appreciate the time. Thank you, Senator.
    [The prepared statement of Ms. Crotty follows:]

Prepared Statement of Hon. Amber Kanazbah Crotty, Delegate, 23rd Navajo 
                             Nation Council
    Ya'at'eeh (Hello) Chairman Hoeven and Vice Chairman Udall, Senator 
McCain, members of the committee, and staff. I am Council Delegate 
Amber Kanazbah Crotty and I serve as a member of the 23rd Navajo Nation 
Council. I am here on behalf of the Navajo Nation to respectfully voice 
our support for Senator John McCain's bill, S. 772, the AMBER Alert in 
Indian Country Act. We would like to extend our sincerest gratitude to 
the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and Senator McCain for 
sponsoring this bill and allowing me to provide testimony on an 
important issue that affects our Native American children in order to 
increase protections for them.
    The Navajo Nation has several public safety needs that are critical 
to maintaining and improving safety protocols, and none more important 
than the vital need to implement a comprehensive AMBER Alert system. In 
May 2016, we lost an 11-year-old Navajo girl by the name of Ashlynne 
Mike near the area of Shiprock, N.M., due to an abduction that 
ultimately ended in a fatal tragedy. The events that led to her demise 
not only devastated our Nation, but also led to an outcry by our Navajo 
people pleading with our leaders to implement our own AMBER Alert 
system.
    Currently, our communication plan protocol forces the Navajo Nation 
to rely on state entities to issue AMBER Alerts on our behalf, which 
has proved to be a lengthy and dangerous process. When a child is 
abducted, every minute counts and the more time that passes, the more 
difficult it can be to recover the child. As the Navajo Nation moves 
forward in establishing an AMBER Alert system, we are in the process of 
creating a communication plan unique to our Nation's needs, which 
includes obtaining software that will allow us to send out mass 
communication to our local areas within Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah.
    FEMA recently provided the Navajo Nation access to their Integrated 
Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), which would allow the Navajo 
Nation to issue and manage various emergency alerts, as well as AMBER 
Alerts. Once the nation obtains the mass communication software to 
issue alerts, we will still need additional resources to maintain the 
communication plan and train public safety and emergency management 
personnel.
    However, once the Navajo Nation has everything in place to issue 
any sort of emergency alert system, we still lack the necessary 
infrastructure to reach our Navajo citizens. The Navajo Nation spans 
over 27,000 square-miles of land, with vast distances between cellular 
towers and few Internet fiber optic lines, which has resulted in 
numerous areas of ``dark zones,'' or non-existent cellular service 
coverage. How can we alert our people of a child abduction if we are 
not reaching all of our Navajo citizens? This is an issue that we and 
many other tribes are still addressing.
    As a Nation that functions with our own government, it is in the 
best interest of our people that the Navajo Nation implement and manage 
its own AMBER Alert system. Although we appreciate the assistance of 
the states for their efforts in aiding with AMBER Alerts, we realize 
that we must be accountable and responsible to our people, and it 
starts with taking every step possible to protect and recover our 
children when they are taken.
    Bill S. 772 would provide the opportunity to not only the Navajo 
Nation, but to other tribal nations in critical need of an AMBER Alert 
system and an effective communication protocol plan. I appreciate the 
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and Senator McCain for initiating 
this discussion with tribal nations, and it is important that we keep 
this dialogue open in order to convey our needs to the Federal 
Government. The vast majority of Indian country is rural, and we 
understand the barriers and concerns that come with ensuring 
protections for our children, so we want to voice our support for this 
bill and hope you can ensure this legislation is passed.
    S. 772 would allow for grants that the Navajo Nation would greatly 
need to capitalize on its current emergency plan development by 
focusing on training and capacity building around the AMBER Alert 
activation communication protocol. These grants would assist in 
increasing the administrative capacity of the Navajo Nation Emergency 
Management Department and the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety 
in enhancing their AMBER Alert activation protocol. A minute can be the 
difference between life and death; especially when a child is involved.
    The potential waiver of the federal share can be the foundation for 
increased opportunity for the Navajo Nation and tribes to create 
collaborative relationships with states on a government-to-government 
basis in issuing AMBER Alerts. The resources to create these much 
needed collaborative partnerships with the surrounding states and 
cities is essential in increasing the capacity of tribes to create, 
control and issue their own AMBER Alert warning. Additionally, these 
grants provide tribes the opportunity, and all involved in the 
activation of the AMBER Alert, to be accountable to not only the 
Federal Government, but to the Navajo people, as well. We look forward 
to continuing and strengthening this relationship of accountability 
between this esteemed body, the Department of Justice and its various 
agencies, the various states, and the Navajo Nation.
    I appreciate Sen. McCain for his leadership with this bill and 
thank the Senate Indian Affairs Committee the opportunity to provide 
testimony. Ahehee' (thank you)!
    Attachments
    
    
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    Senator McCain. Thank you.
    Ms. Garry, you mentioned child sex trafficking. In your 
experience, on Native American reservations, is this an issue 
that is a growing problem or is it stable or is it being 
reduced?
    Ms. Garry. Senator McCain, thank you for the question.
    I do not have information on the data and the numbers.
    Senator McCain. What is your impression since you are 
involved in this?
    Ms. Garry. I think as there is an increased awareness and 
increased training on the part of State and local law 
enforcement, it is being recognized more. If I had to gather a 
guess, I would likely say the number has been increased as a 
likelihood of increased reporting and general awareness about 
the issue.
    Senator McCain. One of the aspects of this whole issue is 
the social networking which makes it so much easier to engage 
in these activities. I noticed you nodding your head, Mr. 
Walters.
    Mr. Walters. Yes, Senator. I think you speak to a very 
important aspect of the issue related to Indian Country. One of 
the things we have seen, both as it relates to some of the 
economies that have been boosted by petroleum and so forth in 
the Dakotans, the Balkans and others, we saw an increase of 
trafficking, especially of Native children in that time frame.
    Also, the spread of social networking and access to 
technology, we have seen a clear correlation between tribal 
communities that 15 years ago had no Internet and no access to 
technology, and today they have cell phones and access.
    As you are aware, the use of technology to traffic and 
exploit children is significant. Our experience has been in 
cities like Phoenix, Albuquerque and other hub cities in Indian 
Country, if you go into some of the platforms used to advertise 
for trafficking, you can quite easily search and find Native 
Americans listed on there because there is a market where 
traffickers can make money, they will do it and will use Native 
children as a means of making that money.
    Senator McCain. Did you want to say something else?
    Ms. Garry. Excuse me, Senator McCain. I was just going to 
add that as the perpetrators and the offenders have begun to 
use technology to their advantage, State, local and tribal law 
enforcement have taken advantage of the increases in 
technology.
    With the Amber Alert Program, the National Center for 
Missing and Exploited Children does a wonderful Amber Alert 
secondary distribution system where they take advantage of the 
various social media that Mr. Walters was discussing, as well 
as partnerships with businesses, retailers in the area, 
wireless carriers, portable digital signs that we too are 
learning and trying to advantage of technology to combat not 
only the child sex trafficking issue but the issue of missing 
and abducted children.
    Senator McCain. I appreciate those comments but everything 
I am hearing, not just on Native American reservations, is that 
the bad guys are using this technology to great advantage as 
Mr. Walters said. It is a growing issue.
    Did you want to comment on that, Ms Crotty?
    Ms. Crotty. Thank you, Senator.
    In some recent reports from our partners at the USDOJ 
office, there have been at least two confirmations of Navajo 
young women being found in a sex camp in the Balkans.
    Senator McCain. From where?
    Ms. Crotty. In the Balkans, North Dakota. When we were 
given the key study on how they ended up there, they were 
certainly trafficked up to the area. When the perpetrators 
identified them, they specifically were looking for Navajo 
young women so that they can market them as either Navajo, 
Native American, Asian, and Hispanic.
    We are seeing from the conversations that our young 
children are being targeted. They are using social media and 
there are pretty sophisticated rings that are either in our 
border towns. There are some reports that there may be possible 
connections right in our communities on Navajo Nation.
    Senator McCain. Thank you.
    Ms. Crotty, an article in the Navajo Times claims that 
Navajo received a $330,000 grant in 2007. Half the money was 
unused. I want to make sure that if we get additional funding, 
that money is well accounted for and it is spent wisely. Will 
you make sure that happens? I can rely on you? I will hold you 
responsible. You will go to jail.
    Ms. Crotty. I appreciate that, Senator. I am the person to 
get that done, so I appreciate that.
    I want to make sure that you, your staff and the 
individuals in the room know that more than half of that money 
was used for search and rescue. The other portion was returned. 
Current leadership, we are not overseeing that money.
    From that, we have learned with this comprehensive 
approach. We have already identified how using money, using 
Navajo Nation revenue, partnering and making sure access to 
Federal funding will sustain the programs. We can guarantee 
that. I appreciate that, Senator.
    Senator McCain. Thank you. I will rely on you.
    Mr. Clement, just out of curiosity, you came from Juneau, 
Alaska, is that correct?
    Mr. Clement. Yes, Senator. I came from Juneau last night.
    Senator McCain. How long were you planning on staying?
    Mr. Clement. I am leaving at 7:00 p.m.
    Senator McCain. On behalf of many of us, I want to 
apologize for the inconvenience that you were subjected to. I 
hope we can have you back. I apologize but the fact is that 
because of disputes among us here in the U.S. Senate, you have 
been deprived of your ability to be heard on what I know is a 
very important issue to you and the citizens of Alaska.
    Mr. Clement. I completely understand.
    Senator McCain. Thank you for coming. We will welcome you 
back. Maybe when it gets a lot colder would be more 
appropriate.
    This is a listening session, as I continue to repeat, and I 
thank the witnesses.
    Senator Udall has arrived fashionably late.
    Senator Udall. Fashionably late. It is Washington, right, 
Senator McCain?
    Senator McCain. I want to thank my dear friend for coming. 
We were having a listening session, I want to emphasize. We 
were discussing this whole issue of Amber Alert. I know the 
Senator from New Mexico especially has been very, very 
interested and committed.
    Again, this is a listening session, not a hearing. I wonder 
if you and our other Senator would like to go ahead. The 
witnesses have testified and I have given an opening statement, 
so I would like to turn it over to you, Senator Udall.

                 STATEMENT OF HON. TOM UDALL, 
                  U.S. SENATOR FROM NEW MEXICO

    Senator Udall. Senator McCain, I appreciate so much your 
kicking this off and getting it going. I do not know whether 
you all know but Senator McCain, today we had a vote on the 
floor on a methane waste rule which Amber, you know the Four 
Corners area is under the biggest methane cloud in the world. 
You can see it from a satellite.
    He understands the whole issue of methane waste. He really 
helped us on that and was very courageous.
    It is a bit off topic here but some of these witnesses are 
living under that cloud. I know they would appreciate that you 
were taking care of that natural gas waste issue. I really 
appreciate; your help on that.
    Senator McCain. I was not elected Mr. Congeniality again by 
my Republican colleagues. Thank you.
    Senator Udall. You always have a great sense of humor. As 
Senator McCain leaves, he came into the House and Mo Udall, I 
think, was the chairman at the time of the Indian Affairs 
Committee. It was the Interior Department Committee but Indian 
Affairs was a part of it.
    These two partnered up, Mo Udall and John McCain, many, 
many years ago. We do not even want to talk about how many.
    Senator McCain. It was during the during the Coolidge 
Administration.
    Senator Udall. Nobody here even knows who Coolidge is.
    Senator McCain. The finest man I ever knew in the United 
States Senate was Morris K. Udall. I might mention that Senator 
Udall's father, Stewart Udall, served the longest period of 
time as Secretary of the Interior of anyone in history. He 
certainly shares the Udall family's commitment to Native 
Americans as a worthy successor. I thank you, Senator.
    Senator Udall. Thank you for being here.
    Thank you to everyone. As the Senator said, Senator McCain 
has been on this Committee a lot longer than I have.
    This is a listening session. We know that all of you have 
traveled long distances, some from Alaska and some from New 
Mexico. It is unfortunate that we hit a situation where we have 
this thing going on with the FBI and the President and all of 
that and we had some scheduling problems. I apologize to you. 
It is very unfortunate.
    Also, there is some media here that is filming New Mexico's 
representatives, Congressmen and Senators, going around. I just 
wanted all of you to know that.
    I wanted, first of all, to ask about the Amber Alert that 
Senator McCain has been very much involved in. We had Ashlynne 
Mike and her little brother who were abducted. It was a 
horrible situation.
    Looking at this legislation, it pulls at your heart to hear 
this situation. Amber, I know and many of the others on the 
panel have the deep and strong feelings as to what happened.
    How do we get to the point that we can make sure something 
like that does not happen again? Do you think this bill does 
it? What are the other issues that are not covered by the bill? 
I am going to ask that one question and then I am going to go 
to the Senator from Nevada, Catherine Cortez Masto and have her 
start participating in this also.
    Mr. Walters. Senator Udall and Senator Masto, thank you.
    Having worked in the Amber Alert area and specifically in 
the Amber Alert in Indian Country since its inception. I think 
we have seen where there are two primary areas of focus that we 
need to address in order to bring tribes up so they can provide 
the same level of service to their children as those of us do 
not live on tribal lands.
    Resources and policy are what it boils down to, giving the 
tribes the resources they need to be able to quickly identify, 
assess and activate the Amber Alert systems. Time is absolutely 
a critical factor in all of this, as Ashlynne's case proved and 
the resources needed to develop that plan so they can implement 
and get the public involved in finding that child as quickly as 
possible.
    The policy that goes in place is part of the training and 
so forth to make sure these programs are sustainable. We want 
to see a program that five, ten or fifteen years from now is 
still working in tribal communities so we do not put the work 
into it and then lose that traction.
    By doing both of those, we feel strongly the pilot project 
proved the tribes are quite capable of doing this.
    Senator Udall. Do any other members of the panel want to 
speak to that?
    Ms. Garry. Thank you, Senator Udall.
    I want to echo the comments that my colleague, Jim Walters, 
made. Sustainability of these programs is critical. Given the 
turnover rate of staff in the field and on tribal reservations 
with tribal law enforcement, none of the officers at Navajo 
Nation are there. The officers who were there in 2007 and 2008 
when the pilot project started are no longer there.
    Lesson learned, unless policies are developed, protocols 
are written down, unless a child abduction response team is put 
in place, when that tribal law enforcement officer leaves that 
knowledge leaves with him.
    I think Jim rightly stated that sustainability of these 
programs is critical. We would like to help the tribes develop 
plans so that they can not only active or initiate an Amber 
Alert but that they have the resources, the knowledge, the 
skills, the infrastructure, the training and the technology to 
intake a case, to manage that case through trial, if necessary, 
through prosecution, through return, through recovery and 
reunification.
    Senator Udall. Yes. Council delegate?
    Ms. Crotty. Thank you, Senator Udall and Senator Masto.
    I want to make sure you both recognize that you are part of 
the healing process for our Nation in the loss of baby girl 
because I know the focus here is on her and what happened. In 
the way we need to heal, our people need to know that we are in 
charge and have the ability to protect our children.
    When any individual tries to pluck one of our children from 
our community, they need to know we are able, are armed and 
have the ability to through the quickest and fastest means to 
get that child back. I think as parents, as human beings, that 
is really the dream of all of us.
    I want to thank the Senators for being here. Even though we 
are at a listening session, it is very powerful to be able to 
say these words to you and convey how important it is for 
Navajo Nation to have access to sustainable funding that will 
not only enhance current services but allows the ability to 
dream and be able to put those dreams forward that we are able 
to protect our children and our community members rest assured 
that we will take quick action.
    I agree with Mr. Walters and Ms. Garry in terms of policy 
and financing but we did discuss earlier our challenges with 
infrastructure. Senators, at this point, we estimate nearly 
around half of our Nation is not covered by some type of 
cellular service or communication.
    Your offices will be provided a map that I can show you 
here. This red area is the area that has non-coverage. That is 
a huge issue we have in this modern era. We may think it 
inconvenient not to have cell service and make that text but 
when you are not able to provide that text, you are not getting 
the emergency text messaging that is required and needed.
    At this point, there are communities that struggle with 
these local communication plans and rely on either social media 
networks or individuals going out.
    Senators, I appreciate your time. I think this is a heavy, 
heavy issue that weighs on the hearts of all of us. As a Navajo 
Nation Council delegate, I am the Chairwoman of our Sexual 
Assault Prevention Subcommittee.
    Not only do we have stories like Ashlynne but there are 
other stories, maybe hundreds to thousands of Navajo victims of 
violence that have not been told. At this point, it is our 
children who are being targeted for different forms of 
violence.
    We spoke earlier about human trafficking of which we now 
have evidence on Navajo Nation. We must continue to advocate, 
make sure and reassure our people that we will have adequate 
public safety for them, including communication.
    I appreciate the opportunity.
    Senator Udall. Thank you very much. I know culturally, it 
is very difficult to talk about these situations. We really 
appreciate your being here.
    Also, I know the Navajo Nation offices represented by their 
able Jackson Brossy, sitting right behind you and others also. 
Please give my best to President Begay. I welcomed him today on 
the floor on the methane debate where he put in his letter. 
Thank you.
    The Senator from Nevada, Ms. Masto.

           STATEMENT OF HON. CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO, 
                    U.S. SENATOR FROM NEVADA

    Senator Cortez Masto. Thank you, Ranking Member Udall.
    Thank you for this conversation. I represent Nevada. 
Looking at the map you have here that covers Arizona, Utah and 
New Mexico, some parts of Colorado and similar to these States, 
we are geographically challenged when it comes to resources and 
services because we have a lot of rural communities and few 
urban areas. Most of our Indian Country and tribes are in rural 
communities.
    The challenge we have is making sure they have access to 
the Internet. One of the things we are pushing, rightfully so, 
is to bring in broadband to all areas of the State because I 
think that is important to address how we communicate and share 
Amber Alerts and when there are times of emergencies happening.
    I was the Attorney General of Nevada for eight years. The 
National Clearinghouse for Missing and Exploited Children was 
in my office. We focused on doing everything we could to find 
missing children and then focused on participating as part of 
the Amber Alert system in the State of Nevada.
    That is why I want, first of all, to thank DOJ, thank all 
of you for what you have done to really bring the system to the 
level it is today but more needs to be done. When it comes to 
our Indian Country, part of that is bringing broadband there so 
I am curious about your thoughts on that and how we should be 
investing in broadband across the State.
    I also am curious and I know this. I get the 
sustainability. I think that is a challenge in Indian Country. 
Quite often, we see changes in tribal leadership. Every one or 
two years, there are not consistent policies always established 
that are followed. I wonder if you can address that and how we 
address the sustainability when it comes to training our law 
enforcement? That is number one.
    Number two, not all of the tribal communities in my State 
have law enforcement. They do not have the funding to have law 
enforcement, so how do we work with them to address emergencies 
like this and what do we need to do?
    When they do have law enforcement, how do we put protocols 
in place so that they are working with law enforcement from the 
contiguous communities they are working with? If there is a 
local city or county that has law enforcement which works side 
by side with our tribal law enforcement, what can we do to make 
sure their training protocols and policies are seamless when 
they are working together?
    I throw that out there and I am curious about your thoughts 
on how we address all of those issues. Just educate us here in 
the Senate on what we can be doing to address those issues.
    Ms. Garry. Thank you, Senator. I will start and then Jim 
and the Honorable Crotty can jump in.
    We make sure the department offers training and technical 
assistance to tribes interested and anxious to set up Amber 
Alert programs, either their own or if they are interested in 
training and technical assistance to help them partner with a 
State or regional system.
    The last thing you want to do is have a tribe set up a 
standalone Amber Alert system with no partnership with the 
State and/or regional system because if an abductor would 
remove that child from the reservation across the street into 
an area that is off-reservation, that alert would not be going 
to that community.
    Even if a nation decides we need to have our own Amber 
Alert system, we still would strongly encourage them to partner 
with the State, other States and with regions. This is very 
important and critical, not just to the Navajo Nation, but I 
think that is the most rare example with the Four Corners area.
    Fox Valley Technical College, the department's training and 
technical assistance provider for Amber Alert issues, ensures 
that they work with the tribes. They will go on-site, do all 
needs assessment, identify gaps in services, help the tribal 
leadership, councilmen, the tribal chairman and tribal 
president, identify areas for improvement.
    They will ensure there is a process for documenting those 
policies and procedures, that they are current, efficient and 
effective so that when you do have turnover in those law 
enforcement positions, all the knowledge does not leave the 
building with that individual, that there are processes in 
place which can be carried over from administration to 
administration.
    We understand the issue of sustainability to be so 
important that Fox Valley offers, I believe, a block of 
training on just how to sustain programs. That is not just true 
for Amber Alert and not just in Indian Country, that is true 
for all programs.
    You can often find a champion on the reservation or in a 
unit of local government that really gets the community excited 
and engaged but everyone, all the stakeholders, have to be at 
the table in order to ensure the sustainability of these 
projects.
    Senator Cortez Masto. Thank you.
    Mr. Walters. Thank you, Senator.
    To echo what Ms. Garry said, in that process of developing 
a comprehensive child abduction recovery program in a tribal 
community, one of the key elements we have seen and has proven 
effective is each tribe is different. Each tribe has to be 
assessed its own capabilities. Your State certainly reflects 
that with tribes in urban areas and in very remote areas.
    One of the things we have found to be really successful was 
we then required the tribes becoming part of the program to 
pass a tribal resolution to get something that has tribal 
government get involved and make it the law of the land that we 
adopt and implement the policies of the Amber Alert. Each State 
and each tribe may be different.
    On the issue of tribes who do not have law enforcement of 
their own, a prime example comes from Senator Udall's State, 
the Santa Domingo Pueblo north of Albuquerque does not have its 
own law enforcement. When we went into that community, we 
partnered with the New Mexico State police and the Bernalillo 
County sheriff's department. They came in as partners with the 
tribe.
    Today, they have an existing agreement between the tribe, 
the sheriff and the State police. The sheriff went so far as to 
have an officer assigned as their liaison for these Amber Alert 
activities.
    If you can train together, partner on developing policy, 
and share the same goals of child recovery, we have seen that 
it can be very effective. It has shown true results with 
children being recovered as a result of that.
    Senator Cortez Masto. Thank you.
    Ms. Crotty. Thank you for the question, Senator.
    I want to state for the Navajo Nation in terms of our 
challenges with telecommunication or infrastructure, we are 
just beginning this assessment. Right now, the preliminary 
studies will cost nearly $45 million for two-way radio 
communication, cellular coverage and broadband to be installed 
and implemented on the Navajo Nation to meet our needs.
    In terms of how do we partner and coordinate, that will 
always be the challenge. I think we are seeing the results 
right now of political maneuvering and what is prioritized. I 
think as a Nation, we are working on how to mandate the 
training; with the waves of different administrations at the 
tribal level, and making sure that Amber Alert and other 
emergency functions will not be cast to the wayside.
    I think that ultimately as leaders, we are accountable to 
our people. In these discussions, we are setting systems in 
place to have that accountability, that transparency to our 
people to make sure they know that we are working with our 
Federal partners in providing solutions.
    Now we are coordinating with non-profits and weaving these 
different programs into our institutions. With that 
partnership, the service expands, makes it stronger, and we 
have more people involved who are committed career-long 
individuals, who are committed to the process.
    It goes back to the reassurance that it is not just one 
person and one program, but collectively and with a very 
personal, spiritual sense of duty. For Navajo people, to 
protect our children is our duty. We do not have a choice. Our 
children were bestowed upon us through prayer, thought and 
ceremony. It is our ultimate responsibility to make sure every 
one of those children is taken care of and protected.
    I have heard that call and as a leader of Navajo Nation, 
that is what I represent.
    Senator Cortez Masto. Thank you.
    I so appreciate your being here because it is one thing to 
talk about Amber Alert, but the other explains why we need it. 
In Nevada alone in one year, we had 8,000 child abductions, 
8,000. They are either parental abductions, stranger abductions 
and I am glad you brought it up, sex trafficking issues that we 
saw in our State, an area that I focused on.
    Unfortunately, our children are falling prey and are 
victims. We need to do everything we can to ensure their 
safety. That is why, for my purposes, this Amber Alert system 
has been an incredible tool for law enforcement to protect 
those children from those abductions, to identify them 
immediately, try to get to get them the resources they need, 
and hopefully put them back in a comfortable environment where 
they came from or with their families, whatever it is, to try 
to get them those services.
    I think that is the side we do not talk about. We talk 
about Amber Alert, it is a great tool, but there is a human 
piece to this. That is why I am so glad you are here because 
you see that human side of it. You tell the story every day. 
That is what this is about for many of us.
    Thank you so much for this discussion. I really appreciate 
you being here.
    Senator Udall. Thank you very much, Senator Cortez Masto 
for those very insightful questions and very good responses 
from the panel.
    I am going to come back to the Amber Alert bill, S. 772. We 
also have, I think the other panelists may be interested as 
well, the other bill that is part of this listening session, S. 
825, a bill to provide for the conveyance of certain property 
to the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium located in 
Sitka, Alaska, and for other purposes sponsored by Senator 
Murkowski, with whom I worked very closely on the Interior 
Department appropriation. She is my chairman.
    Mr. Charles Clement is here today. He is the President and 
Chief Executive Officer of the Southeast Alaska Regional Health 
Consortium in Juneau, Alaska. I know you have not had a chance, 
Mr. Clement, to give an opening statement. If you would like 
to, that would be great. You can take up to five minutes or 
whatever you like. I have a health care question I want to ask 
you but I want to hear whatever opening comments you have.

 STATEMENT OF CHARLES CLEMENT, PRESIDENT/CEO, SOUTHEAST ALASKA 
                   REGIONAL HEALTH CONSORTIUM

    Mr. Clement. Thank you so much, Ranking Member Udall.
    My name is Charles Clement. I am the President and CEO of 
the Alaska Regional Health Consortium in Southeast Alaska.
    First of all, I want to extend my appreciation to the folks 
to my right. I think the work they are doing is absolutely 
incredible. As a parent of two young girls, Alaska Native 
girls, I certainly appreciate the work they are trying to do.
    Being from Metlakatla, Alaska, which is the only Indian 
reservation left in Alaska, the work they are doing strikes to 
the heart of being a parent. Thank you very much.
    I do extend a thank you to the Committee for the 
opportunity to share a little bit about the work we are doing 
in Southeast Alaska. I specifically would like to recognize and 
thank Senator Murkowski. I know she cannot be here; she is in 
the Arctic today with I believe a contingent of Arctic leaders 
from around the world, along with Mr. Tillerson. I know they 
are doing good work on behalf of the State of Alaska and the 
government here in Washington, D.C.
    I would like to take up to five minutes to talk about 
Senate Bill 825 which relates to the conveyance of certain 
properties. Southeast Alaska Health Consortium operates a 
hospital in Sitka, Alaska. It is a tertiary hospital. We are a 
receiving and referring hospital for an area of about 35,000 
square miles.
    It is an incredibly large service area. It goes from 
Yakutat, Alaska on the northern edge of southeast Alaska to 
Metlakatla where I grew up. Again, it is mostly comprised of 
small islets. There are not roads; there is very limited ferry. 
Most of the travel happens by very small plane.
    Again, this is a referring center for all Alaska Natives 
and American Indians in that catchment area. In the packet I 
will submit to the Committee for the record is a map outlining 
all the villages we serve. There are quite a few and they are 
growing all the time.
    There is a great deal of challenges as related to our 
friends from Navajo. There is a great deal of challenges in 
delivering services, whatever they may be, when you have a 
large, disparate area like southeast Alaska or the Navajo 
Nation. Whether it is transportation or telecommunications, I 
think we share some of the same struggles.
    The bill that is introduced is helping us work through the 
challenges of managing and operating a hospital on behalf of 
the HIS. We are Indian Health contractors, so we provide 
services for Alaska Natives and American Indians that would 
otherwise be provided by the Indian Health Service.
    We have been compacting with the Federal Government, 
specifically the Indian Health Service, since 1986. We are one 
of the oldest compactors in the Country and one of the largest 
compactors in the Country.
    When we look back to 1986 when we assumed services from the 
Indian Health Service, one of the main components of that 
service spectrum we inherited was the hospital at Mt. Edgecumbe 
in Sitka.
    The hospital is about 75 years old now, originally built at 
the end of World War II by the Department of War. At the end of 
World War II, it was deemed a tuberculosis sanatorium. When we 
took over the services provided there, it was converted to a 
tertiary care hospital.
    As you can imagine, the challenges and the needs of 
delivering services related to operating a tuberculosis 
sanatorium are quite a bit different than trying to deliver 
health care in the 21st century.
    Every year, we make improvements on the hospital. We try to 
keep everything up to code. We work very diligently with the 
Indian Health Service to try to make sure we do everything we 
can to deliver health care to the level, extent and quality we 
feel our beneficiaries deserve.
    Again, it is a challenge. Something that was built by the 
Department of War looks like something built by the Department 
of War. It is a concrete structure, a Department of War 
military base, so it is a large concrete building, largely 
filled with asbestos. Trying to change things to evolve it to 
how health care is delivered in this day and age continues to 
be a challenge.
    We have partnered, I think very successfully since 1986, 
with the Indian Health Service. As I am sure everyone in this 
room knows, they relate to the provision of services to Alaska 
Natives and American Indians. In many ways, the BIA and IHS 
have their own struggles as well in terms of how to best meet 
the needs.
    It is incumbent upon us to try to get as creative as 
possible, working collaboratively with both our congressional 
delegation and the effected agencies to figure out how to solve 
these problems, to help resolve them on behalf of our 
beneficiaries.
    There are several opportunities whether it is the 
facilities replacement list, the joint venture program, or self 
funding anything going forward with regard to repair and 
replacing the facility.
    One of the big challenges is as we go through land 
disposal, which is turning the land over from the Indian Health 
Service to the local tribal organization, which is ourselves, 
it comes with a quit claim deed which basically limits the 
amount of things we can do and the interactions we can do with 
financing agencies.
    This bill is, I want to say exactly but for the technicians 
in the room, it is very, very similar to previous bills this 
Committee passed which have been enacted into law and relate to 
the transference being a warranty deed.
    It gives us more latitude in terms of going out and working 
with partners, whether that is the Indian Health Service or 
private funding institutions, to go ahead and build and operate 
replacement facilities.
    At the heart of this bill, we are in the midst of a 
transference with the HIS. I think it is a very collaborative 
process and always has been. The IHS has said to us that we do 
have more options if we can get the Congress to agree we are 
better served by having a warranty deed. It gives us more 
flexibility in terms of the next steps.
    We have learned that we have to be prepared for a 
contingency and be creative in our approach to resolving these 
problems. This tries to put more tool on the table for us to 
help try to resolve those issues.
    Additionally, I would say we have reviewed the testimony 
HHS has provided for this Committee. There are several items 
brought up in that testimony. I think we believe that all of 
them can be worked through. They are issues related to time 
frames. We are flexible. We understand there is a need to get 
this resolved, so we are prepared for any opportunities that 
arise whether they are Federal, State or local opportunities, 
and development opportunities.
    We also understand that maybe they cannot work within the 
180 days we put forth and suggested. I think some reasonable 
compromise we have already vetted with the agency is very 
reasonable.
    There are some provisions about revisionary clauses. I 
think they vetted those in the past with the Committee and the 
bills that have passed went forward without any modifications 
to those. I think they feel they need to bring attention it.
    Ranking Member Udall, I do not want to belabor this. I 
think our bill is very similar if not exactly the same as at 
least six other bills around Indian Country that have been 
passed, vetted by this Committee, and previously enacted into 
law.
    I would be happy to answer any questions you may have 
whether health related or any other questions.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Clement follows:]

Prepared Statement of Charles Clement, President/CEO, Southeast Alaska 
                       Regional Health Consortium
    Chairman Hoeven, Ranking Member Udall, and members of the 
Committee, I want to thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My 
name is Charles Clement. I am the President and CEO of the Southeast 
Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) and a member of the 
Metlakatla Tribe of Alaska. I bring you the greetings of our Board 
Chair, Ms. Kimberley Strong. I want to take this opportunity to thank 
our senior Senator from Alaska, Senator Lisa Murkowski, for her 
unwavering support for tribal health care providers in Alaska and for 
introducing this bill. I am honored to testify in strong support of the 
Southeast Alaska Land Transfer Act, S. 825.
    SEARHC is an Alaska Native controlled non-profit tribal 
organization. We are authorized by the resolutions of 15 federally-
recognized Alaska Native tribes to administer a comprehensive health 
care delivery system for the Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian and other Native 
peoples of Southeast Alaska. This bill today is critical to our efforts 
to improve the care that we provide at Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital in Sitka, 
Alaska. We are developing plans to make critically needed upgrades to 
bring Mt. Edgecumbe into the 21st Century, but we need clear title to 
the land, currently held by IHS, in order to move forward with these 
upgrades. This is what S. 825 will accomplish.
    SEARHC was founded in 1975 and is one of the oldest and largest 
Native-run health organizations in the United States. In 1976, we first 
contracted with the Indian Health Service (IHS) under the Indian Self-
Determination and Education Assistance Act (ISDA) to take over 
management of the Community Health Aide Program serving our Tribes. In 
1982, we expanded our contract to take over operation of the IHS Juneau 
clinic, recently renamed the Ethel Lund Medical Center, and in 1986 we 
expanded once again to take over operation of the Sitka Mt. Edgecumbe 
Hospital. For more than twenty-years we have provided health care 
services to the people of our region under a Self-Governance Compact 
with the Indian Health Service executed under Title V of the ISDA. 
Today, our service area stretches over 35,000 square miles, with no 
roads connecting most of the rural communities we serve.
    Through our compact we operate twenty-eight community health clinic 
sites and one hospital. We have 950 employees ranging from specialized 
doctors in Mt. Edgecumbe to community health aides in our village 
clinics. Again, the facility most relevant to today's hearing is the 
Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital in Sitka.
    The Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital (S' `axt' Hit in Tlingit) is a 25-bed 
critical access hospital. We provide acute care, critical care, 
obstetrics, surgery, and perioperative care, as well as outpatient 
primary care and emergency services. At Mt. Edgecumbe we employ 458 
individuals, including 25 doctors, 58 nurses, and 8 specialists. Last 
year we had 46,392 outpatient visits, performed 1,236 surgical 
procedures, had 502 inpatient admissions, and delivered 57 babies.
    The Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital is critical to our ability to provide 
quality care throughout Southeast Alaska. SEARHC's top priority is 
therefore addressing the aging condition of the Hospital. This is why 
this legislation is needed, so we can secure necessary resources and 
make facility upgrades required for a modern 21st century hospital.
    At 67 years old, the Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital is the oldest facility 
in Alaska and one of the oldest in the Nation. It was constructed 
toward the end of World War II by the War Department and through the 
1950s focused largely on tuberculosis treatment. The hospital is in 
poor condition and ill-suited to a 21st century model of health care 
dominated by primary and ambulatory care facilities. SEARHC has 
therefore developed plans to make the critically needed upgrades 
required to bring Mt. Edgecumbe into the 21st century.
    The need for S. 825 is simple. Title to the parcel underlying Mt. 
Edgecumbe Hospital, and those parcels adjacent to the hospital, is 
currently held by IHS, our primary partner in this project. SEARHC 
needs to hold unencumbered title to the land where the upgrades will be 
made. The bill therefore directs the Secretary of the Department of 
Health and Human Services to transfer approximately 19.07 acres of land 
located on the Mt. Edgecumbe campus to SEARHC by warranty deed.
    The warranty deed transfer can only be accomplished through federal 
legislation, so we ask for this Committee's help and that of the entire 
Congress to achieve this result. In doing so we wish to call to the 
Committee's attention that the bill is identical to legislative 
measures Congress recently enacted for the Yukon Kuskokwim Health 
Corporation, the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, and the 
Maniilaq Association.
    Last year the Senate Appropriations Committee directed IHS ``to 
work with the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium to formulate 
options for facilities upgrades and ultimately a replacement facility 
at Mt. Edgecombe [sic] in Sitka. The plan shall be submitted to the 
Committee within 180 days of enactment of this act.'' S. Rep. 114-281, 
at 91. S. 825 is a critical first step in the process of developing a 
comprehensive new plan for the delivery of health care across our 
massive service area.
    We understand that IHS may believe additional time is needed to 
effectuate any land transfer that Congress may authorize. While we are 
not wedded to the 180-day timeframe set forth in section 2(a) of the 
bill, we believe the transfer needs to happen promptly.
    The idea of a land transfer is not new. To the contrary, we have 
worked on this for years, and finally, thanks to this legislation, we 
can see the light at the end of the tunnel. To help move things along, 
over the past year we hosted Alaska Area IHS staff at the Sitka campus, 
we met at IHS Headquarters, and we tracked weekly progress through 
informal check-ins with agency staff. Our dedicated staff have spent 
hours and hours researching and tracking down the needed documentation 
and clearances to transfer the land. From tribal resolutions to site 
assessments, each requirement was carefully tracked and monitored. 
SEARHC also paid for contractors to conduct hazmat surveys and historic 
determinations of eligibility for the Sitka campus properties. We took 
the initiative to coordinate with outside agencies that may have a 
stake in the land transfer including the FAA, the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs, the Alaska Historical Society, and the National Parks Service.
    The agency's apparent belief that several years, rather than 
several months, are needed to complete the transfer reflects a 
fundamental misunderstanding of the bill, and that the land transfer 
will go forward promptly thanks to this new authorizing legislation. It 
is precisely to forestall several more years of delay under existing 
law that this bill has been introduced.
    We thank the Committee for its support for this measure and look 
forward to speedy approval of the bill so that desperately needed work 
can begin soon to upgrade this critical hospital.
    Attachment
    
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    Senator Udall. Thank you so much for sharing those comments 
with us.
    Recently, I have heard from several tribes about how 
funding for medical services at IHS facilities has increased 
over the last few years, mostly through increased billing 
revenue from programs like Medicaid.
    As you know, Medicaid funds have allowed the majority of 
IHS service areas to move from Medical Priority 1 care, what is 
called life or limb only, and because of these Medicaid monies, 
they have moved into Medical Priority 3 and 4, which are 
preventative care and primary care services.
    How has the State of Alaska's decision to adopt Medicaid 
expansion affected your consortium? What is your opinion on 
that?
    Mr. Clement. I am not sure it is an opinion. I think I can 
tell you that Medicaid expansion has affected us in a very 
positive way. To qualify that, I think it has been acknowledged 
around Indian Country that services by the Indian Health 
Service are funded at about 50 percent the level of need in 
terms of an ongoing, operating basis.
    It is incumbent upon tribal contractors, and even direct 
service tribes, to get creative to try to figure out how to 
fill the gap between the funding level where it is and where it 
is enacted and the rest of the needs.
    I would say more clearly, it has affected us positively. 
Has it given us everything we feel we need? No, absolutely not. 
I do not even think we expect to get everything we need, but I 
think we feel it is important to work with our partners, 
whether Federal or State, to try to get creative.
    We understand in the Alaska with the price of oil being 
what it is, these are very difficult financial times. We 
understand that the mood here in Washington sometimes can be 
uncertain and maybe not as forthcoming with some of the 
financial support we would otherwise like but it does not 
absolve us of the responsibility to work collaboratively with 
all of our partners to try to deliver the best possible care 
for our beneficiaries.
    Senator Udall. Do you think Federal reductions or 
alterations to Medicaid and other third party billing sources 
would impact Alaska Native health?
    Mr. Clement. I am sure it would. I could not tell you 
exactly how they would but I think it is a fact that Medicaid 
expansion has sort of helped us sustain and maybe grow in ways 
that prior to expansion, we could not have.
    Senator Udall. Thank you.
    You hit on something that is very important. I think all of 
the witnesses know that in the health care area, what you said, 
a 50 percent level of need is where the services of the Indian 
Health Service are.
    For many of these tribes, the commitment was by treaty to 
give good quality, affordable health care. We are 50 percent 
off that. The thing that drives me crazy is if you go through 
the list of Medicare, Medicaid, and the Veterans Administration 
and you have a per capita number, they are way above the Indian 
Health Service.
    You would have the Medicare number up about 12,000 per 
capita, then you come down to Medicaid and Veterans and at the 
very bottom is IHS with a very small number. That is one of the 
things I am just dedicated to do everything I can in the 
appropriations process and the authorizing process, to make 
sure we push those dollars up so we get good quality health 
care for every tribe across the Nation.
    Thank you. I know for your consortium, that is exactly what 
you are trying to do with the limited resources you have.
    Delegate Crotty, you mentioned your current communication 
plan protocol forces the Navajo Nation to rely on State 
entities to issue Amber Alerts on your behalf which is a very 
lengthy process.
    Can you walk us through the steps the Nation would need to 
take in order to issue an Amber Alert in New Mexico, Arizona or 
Utah?
    Ms. Crotty. I appreciate the question. In working with our 
partners and technical team, the current process is when an 
incident is reported and the police department begins the 
investigation with the dispatchers, once this information is 
gathered, I want to state in terms of not only the 
communication gaps we see on the ground, but in terms of our 
public safety, it is an average from anywhere to a hour and a 
half to maybe three hours for a police officer to respond in 
some of our rural areas.
    When the initial report begins, we review the Amber Alert 
criteria recommended by the Department of Justice. When there 
is reasonable belief by law enforcement that an abduction has 
occurred, at this point, Navajo Nation will call the State 
agency that is responsible for Amber Alert.
    Then the dispatcher, the Navajo Nation dispatcher, if it is 
believe it involves maybe another State like Arizona or New 
Mexico, the dispatcher then will call directly to Arizona. The 
Navajo dispatcher the makes the second call to the Arizona 
dispatch.
    In the Four Corners area where multiple States are in close 
proximity, the Navajo Nation dispatcher will then call Utah 
dispatch. I did give a brief example that recently there was an 
abduction in Arizona that met the criteria, so when Navajo 
dispatch called Arizona, an Amber Alert was issued. When a 
Navajo dispatcher called the State of New Mexico, the State of 
New Mexico determined it was an endangered child.
    We are looking for consistency. We are also looking, at 
this critical time, to have a system that when one of our 
Navajo children is taken, immediately the community is notified 
and are aware.
    We do contact the Amber Alert coordinators, and then the 
Amber Alert is issued. Any tips or information is provided to 
the dispatchers or related to our officers. We now are beefing 
up our debriefing, the release of on the scene personnel and 
incident reports.
    We are learning if Navajo Nation can have the ability to 
identify these very unique, geographical areas and be able to 
be the ones to issue the alert working with the requirements, 
that is the step by step process.
    I think all of us in the room can agree that any additional 
step that should not or does not necessarily need to happen, if 
we have the power as legislators to remove it, that really 
should be the goal.
    As we are amending this PROTECT Act, it is hard for me to 
understand why Native Nations were not initially eligible for 
this funding when it was first appropriated. I think this is 
the time and you are in a vital position to correct previous 
wrongs and empower our people. I appreciate the question, 
Senator. Thank you.
    Senator Udall. Thank you.
    I have just one follow up. Is there full time personnel 
that continuously improves the current communication plan? If 
not, what is preventing the Nation from doing so?
    Ms. Crotty. Thank you, Senator, for the question.
    The Navajo Nation has a Department of Emergency Management 
and they have a full time employed director, but this 
individual is not specific to Amber Alert coordination. Right 
now, this individual manages any emergencies that happen on the 
Nation.
    You can imagine, this individual also had to deal with the 
unfortunate San Juan River contamination and other issues. It 
is my understanding that this Federal funding provides specific 
eligibility to have an Amber Alert coordinator. That is what 
the Navajo Nation needs. Our vastness and challenges really 
require us to make sure that our children are protected.
    Thank you, Senator.
    Senator Udall. Thank you.
    Hearing no requests for additional questions or additional 
discussion, sometimes at the end, panelists after you hear 
everything, if you heard anything and you would like to clarify 
in writing, we have a couple of additional questions people 
have asked that I hope you can maybe get back to us in writing 
if possible.
    I can just tell you both of these bills are very important 
to Indian Country. It is tremendously important that you have 
traveled all this distance from Alaska and New Mexico. We 
really appreciate it and look forward to educating the full 
Committee on what happened here.
    You saw a number of Senators. We will let them know 
everything that happened. We will work expeditiously on these 
very good pieces of legislation.
    Thank you very much. We really appreciate it.
    [Whereupon, at 3:50 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.]

                            A P P E N D I X

Prepared Statement of RADM Chris Buchanan, R.E.H.S., M.P.H., Assistant 
 Surgeon General, USPHS; Acting Director, Indian Health Service, U. S. 
                Department of Health and Human Services
    Chairman and Members of the Committee:
    Good afternoon, Chairman Hoeven, Vice-Chairman Udall, and Members 
of the Committee. I am Chris Buchanan, an enrolled member of the 
Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and currently the Acting Director of the 
Indian Health Service (IHS). Prior to that, I was the IHS Deputy 
Director, leading and overseeing IHS operations to ensure delivery of 
quality comprehensive health services. I am pleased to have the 
opportunity to provide a statement for the record to the Senate 
Committee on Indian Affairs on S. 825, a bill to provide for the 
conveyance of certain property to the Southeast Alaska Regional Health 
Consortium located in Sitka, Alaska.
    The IHS plays a unique role in the Department of Health and Human 
Services (HHS) because it is a health care system that was established 
to meet Federal trust responsibilities to American Indians and Alaska 
Natives (AI/AN). The mission of the IHS, in partnership with American 
Indian and Alaska Native people, is to raise the physical, mental, 
social, and spiritual health of AI/ANs to the highest level. The IHS 
provides comprehensive health service delivery to approximately 2.2 
million AI/ANs through 26 hospitals, 59 health centers, 32 health 
stations, and nine school health centers. Tribes also provide 
healthcare access through an additional 19 hospitals, 284 health 
centers, 163 Alaska Village Clinics, 79 health stations, and eight 
school health centers.
    S. 825 would provide for the conveyance by warranty deed of certain 
property located in Sitka, Alaska to the Southeast Alaska Regional 
Health Consortium.
Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium
    The Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) assumed 
responsibility for the provision of IHS-funded health care services in 
1975 under the authority of the Indian Self-Determination and Education 
Assistance Act (ISDEAA). The Federal property described in S. 825 is 
used in connection with health programs in Sitka, Alaska by the SEARHC. 
On November 17, 2016, SEARHC requested transfer of all Federal property 
located within the Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital campus, including land, 
buildings, and appurtenances in Sitka, Alaska.
    The IHS informed SEARHC of its intent to fulfill SEARHC's request. 
In order to fulfill the request, the IHS further informed SEARHC of 
requirements that must be completed to execute the transfer including 
but not limited to: Phase I Environmental Site Assessment, 
environmental remediation of the property, HazMat survey of the 
buildings and historical consultation with the Alaska Department of 
Environmental Conservation (ADEC) and the Alaska State Historical 
Preservation Office (SHPO).
    Due to on-going environmental remediation and consultation with 
ADEC and the Alaska SHPO, the parcels requested for transfer in S. 825 
are not currently ready to be transferred within 180 days as 
stipulated. However, it is anticipated that Lot 11B containing 10.68 
acres identified by SEARHC for construction of a proposed health care 
facility may be ready for transfer by December 2017 at the earliest. If 
a warranty deed is executed under S. 825 for these selected parcels, 
the IHS will continue to work with the SEARHC and the State of Alaska 
to complete environmental remediation on the remaining portion of land 
requiring remediation in accordance with the Comprehensive 
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 
U.S.C. 9620(h)(3)). In addition, IHS will continue to work with the 
SHPO to fulfill its requirements under the National Historic 
Preservation Act (36 C.F.R. Part 800) for the transfer with an expected 
completion date of two years.
    IHS supports the transfer as furthering the Government-to-
Government relationship that exists with American Indian and Alaska 
Native tribal governments. It is important to emphasize that, as a 
normal practice, IHS does not transfer properties via the warranty deed 
mechanism.
Warranty Deed
    We believe that reasons to use a warranty deed mechanism in future 
cases are limited. Traditionally, Alaska Tribes and Tribal Health 
Organizations (T/THO) have preferred to leave the title to facilities 
previously operated by the IHS with the Federal Government.
    The majority of the health care facilities used by the Tribes in 
the other 35 States are located on tribally owned lands. This warranty 
deed transfer would be the sixth of its kind in Alaska. IHS recently 
issued five warranty deeds authorized by Congress to transfer parcels 
of land to the Maniilaq Association, Alaska Native Tribal Health 
Consortium, and Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation previously 
transferred through a quitclaim deed. On other numerous occasions, 
properties have been transferred to T/THOs through quitclaim deeds.
    Although a warranty deed does not have a reversionary clause 
ensuring the property will continue to be used in support of federal 
health programs, we think retrocession of IHS programs is unlikely. We 
can count only four retrocessions since the 1975 enactment of ISDEAA. 
Three were only small program components which have been re-assumed by 
the Tribes. None of these retrocessions were in the Alaska Area.
    IHS believes there are technical issues with some of the bill's 
language pertaining to environmental liability and the reversionary 
clause and would like the opportunity to work with the Committee to 
provide technical assistance on these matters.
Environmental Liability
    Since 1975, SEARHC has managed the Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital Campus 
and provided excellent quality health care to approximately 13,000 IHS 
beneficiaries. Between now and the time SEARHC assumed management of 
the campus, the IHS did not undertake any activities that may have 
resulted in environmental contamination. However, the current language 
in S. 825 will absolve SEARHC of any liability for environmental 
contamination during the period SEARHC controlled, occupied, and used 
the property. It does not include any provisions to absolve the agency 
of environmental liability during this period. This leaves the HHS 
responsible for contamination that may have been caused by SEARHC. The 
agency believes this could be rectified by including language to 
absolve the IHS of environmental liability subsequent to the time 
SEARHC controlled, occupied and used the property.
    Mr. Chairman, this concludes my testimony. Thank you.

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