agency and area offices, interviewed employees, and published his findings in a series of reports, many critical of the agency's record keeping practices. See, e.g., Report of the Special Master Regarding Site Visits to Area and Agency Offices (Oct. 29, 1999) (the Anadarko, Concho, Crow, Northern Cheyenne, Fort Belknap, Fort Peck Agency, Billings, Rosebud, and Pine Ridge Agency Offices); Third Report of the Special Master Regarding Site Visits to Area and Agency Offices (Nov. 12, 1999) (the Fort Berthold and Fort Totten Agency Offices); Fourth Site Visit Report of the Special Master to Area and Agency Offices (Nov. 29, 2000) (reporting findings following visits to the Warm Springs, Yakama Umatilla, Colville, Flathead, and Blackfeet Agency Offices).
Interior filed no objections to the Master's site visit reports and never challengedmeasures necessary or proper for the efficient performance of [his] duties." Order dated February 24, 1999 at 2.
This was not the first time the Special Master retained experts to assist him. During his five-year tenure, the Special Master has routinely retained the services of numerous individuals and entities to assist him in the fulfillment of his duties.[4] Interior has neither questioned the Master's authority to do so nor suggested that these appointments were subject to its pre-approval. In fact, the only time Interior formally took issue with the Special Master's decision to retain an expert was when he hired Joseph Christie, a former employee of the Department of the Interior for 28 years and an expert in the field of trust records. Interior's reaction to the Christie hire