Oklahoma native John Tahsuda III, a member of the state’s Kiowa Tribe was named this week to be a top official with the U.S. Department of Interior.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced Tahsuda will become the department’s Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs. As Assistant Secretary, Tahsuda will be the first assistant and principal advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs in the development and interpretation of policies affecting Indian Affairs bureaus, offices and programs.
“I want to welcome John Tahsuda to my Indian Affairs leadership team,” said Secretary Zinke. “John possesses extensive experience in federal Indian law and tribal government, and deeply understands and respects our government-to-government relationship with tribes. He’ll be a strong leader for the Indian Affairs organization.”
“I appreciate Secretary Zinke for giving me this tremendous opportunity to bring greater prosperity to tribes and their communities,” Tahsuda said. “I’m looking forward to working with tribal leaders on finding ways to make Indian Affairs programs more responsive to their needs.”
Tahsuda, a 1990 graduate of Oklahoma State University and 1993 graduate of Cornell University’s School of Law had been with the Washington, D.C.-based Navigators Global LLC where he was a principal. The firm specializes in political services to several industry sectors including energy, health care, emergency management, American Indian tribal affairs and high tech telecommunications.
At Navigators Global, Tahsuda led the tribal affairs practice and provided clients with advocacy and counsel services on a range of tribal affairs policy issues including gaming, tax incentives, tobacco sales, land-into-trust issues and economic development.
Previously, Tahsuda had been on the staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. From 1999 to 2001, he was general counsel and legislative director of the National Indian Gaming Association. He earlier had been acting general counsel for the Oneida Indian Nation of New York. Tahsuda also had been an adjunct professor of law at Cornell Law School where he taught courses on federal Indian law, policy and history.
