FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 10, 2002 www.indiantrust.com INTERIOR OFFICIAL IN CHARGE OF FAILED TAAMS SYSTEM MINIMIZES JOB AS "PRIMARILY OVERSIGHT" Chief Technology Officer: "My role was not to micromanage" WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Interior Department's chief information technology officer testified today that he played only an advisory, oversight role in the development of a $36 million trust data computer system that does not work and that an Interior consultant has recently recommended should be scrapped. Daryl White, the Chief Information Officer at Interior since March 1998, acknowledged that he had attended key meetings and authored, received and annotated critical memos as the Trust Asset and Accounting Management System (TAAMS) was being developed, but denied he bore responsibility for the project's disastrous course. The onus for the failure of TAAMS, White suggested, fell largely on the BIA project manager, Dominic Nessi. "Nessi never said he couldn't meet the requirements," White said. Asked about a Feb. 23, 2001 memo in which Nessi charged that Interior's efforts at trust reform were "imploding" and were based on "rosy projections," White dismissed the complaints. "This memo reflects a project manager's frustrations after being with a project for a very long time," said White. "A note like this does not surprise me." White was testifying on the 15th day of a contempt trial for Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb. It was Nessi's memo that prompted U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth to appoint a Court Monitor whose investigative reports led to the contempt charges against Norton and McCaleb. White characterized his office at several points today as detached from the day-to-day TAAMS field project and having strictly an advisory and policy function. Although he was responsible for oversight of the TAAMS project, he said, "We [Interior] have hundreds of systems. My job is policy and discipline." White also testified that he had not read Lamberth's Dec. 21, 1999 decision ordering Interior to reform the Individual Indian Monies (IIM) trust. White's testimony marked the completion of the case by the Cobell plaintiffs, who seek to have Norton and McCaleb held in contempt. The government's first witness was John Snyder, a division chief in White's office who was instrumental in the planning and development of the TAAMS system. Snyder's testimony will continue Friday. ##### To subscribe to the Indian Trust mailing list, please click on the following link (if available) or paste it into your browser: http://www.indiantrust.com/