The Trump administration still has not appointed the leader of the Bureau of Indian Affairs but a second assistant deputy secretary has been designated.
John Tahsuda, a citizen of the Kiowa Tribe, will join the BIA after the Labor Day weekend to serve as the principal deputy assistant secretary for Indian affairs.
Tahsuda, an attorney, is no stranger to tribal issues in Washington, D.C. He worked for the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs under Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) and retired Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colorado) between 2001 and 2007. He also was employed for a while by the National Indian Gaming Association.
Since 2007, Tahsuda has been in charge of the tribal affairs practice at Navigators Global, a Washington lobbying, management and communications firm. His clients included the Southern California Tribal Chairmen’s Association, the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians, the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association and the Osage Nation’s gaming enterprise, according to Senate lobbying records.
Tahsuda joins Gavin Clarkson, a citizen of the Choctaw Nation, as the only other BIA appointment by the Trump administration. Clarkson has been serving as deputy assistant secretary for policy and economic development since June. Clarkson, however, has little government and political experience and while some tribal officials have worked well with them, reports say he has alienated others.
Tahsuda will bring a long history of Washington experience, something that has been lacking at the agency since Trump took over.
According to Indianz.com, Tahsuda may be named the “acting” assistant secretary prior to an official announcement from the White House. Trump has yet to nominate someone for the post, something both of his predecessors had done by this time in their first terms in office.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has suggested that he has someone identified for the assistant secretary job but difficulties in the vetting process have delayed that person’s arrival. Tahsuda had been rumored as a potential pick, as had Clarkson.
