The Dann Sisters

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

- FBI Files on Mary Dann (January 2, 1923 – April 22, 2005)
- records maintained on Mary Dann (January 2, 1923 – April 22, 2005)
- FBI Files on Carrie Dann (1932 – January 2, 2021)
- records maintained on Carrie Dann (1932 – January 2, 2021)
- records mentioning the 2008 documentary "American Outrage"
- records mentioning the 1993 documentary "Newe Segobia is Not for Sale"

While their deaths are well documented, you can find proof of death here:

- https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/24/us/mary-dann-activist-for-shoshone-tribe-dies.html
- https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/13/us/carrie-dann-dead.html

In addition to standard practices, please conduct:

- Searches of the Electronic Case File System (ECF)
- Searches of Special Agent in Charge (SAC) safes
- Searches of SENTINEL
- Searches of Electronic Surveillance (ELSUR) Indices, the Microphone Surveillance (MISUR) Indices, the Physical Surveillance (FISUR) Indices, and the Technical Surveillance (TESUR) Indices
- Searches of the Investigative Data Warehouse (IDW), including IDW-S, SPT, and DOCLAB-S sub-systems/indices
- Searches of the Data Integration and Visualization System (DIVS)

I request all cross-referenced records be provided. If any responsive or cross-referenced records have been destroyed and/or transferred to NARA, please provide all records related/pursuant to their destruction/transfer. This includes but is not limited to:

- Confirmation of destruction and destruction slips
- File Numbers or other forms of ID of the aforementioned destroyed records
- Documents/records with any references to the destruction of the aforementioned destroyed records.
- Transfer slips
- Any other documentation relating to, mentioning or describing said transfer or destruction, to include but not be limited to confirmation that the Bureau has no other copies of said records

I want **ALL** records identifiable with this request, even though reports based on those records may have been sent to department headquarters or other department offices, and even though there may be duplication between sets of files. Please produce all records with their administrative markings intact, and all reports, memos, and documents to include any and all administrative pages. In any responsive material, please black out rather than white out or cut out material.

I request the administrative case file (including search slips and processing notes, i.e email correspondence and text messages) for this request. When searching email records, please search for any tracking information/identification assigned to this request, including but not limited to appeal number/ID, request number/ID, any internal tracking number/ID, etc.

This part of the request is to be processed only after you have completed processing all of the above parts. This part does not request that you create any new record; rather, it requests the records that you will have created in processing the above parts, and will therefore exist before you conduct the search for this part. See McGehee v. CIA, 697 F. 2d 1095, 1100-05 (D.C. Cir. 1983) (agency must use time-of-search cut-off date, not time-of-request).

Given the anticipated amount of responsive pages, I'm requesting for interim releases of responsive records (otherwise known as a "rolling release").

**I ask that you understand that I am requesting any and all records concerning the subject in any way, including but not limited to those listed in the General Index and any and all other indexes.**

BACKGROUND

Mary Dann (January 2, 1923 – April 22, 2005) (Western Shoshone) was a Native American activist. She died from an accident on her ranch in Crescent Valley, central Nevada, on April 22, 2005.

Carrie Dann (1932 – January 2, 2021) was a Western Shoshone spiritual elder and activist for land and tribal rights.

On April 1, 2007, Carrie Dann was arrested with 38 other activists for trespassing at the Nevada Test Site at a Nevada Desert Experience event protesting governmental programs at the site. She has continued with activities to try to end nuclear testing and programs at the site.

In November 2008 Dann, with members of the Western Shoshone Defense Project and four other tribal and public interest groups, sued in federal court against the US and Canadian Barrick Gold, seeking an injunction to stop the "largest open pit cyanide heap leach gold mines in the United States - the Cortez Hills Expansion Project on Mt. Tenabo," Nevada. The Western Shoshone consider this to be sacred land. In addition to spiritual concerns, tribal and other groups are concerned about the proposed project's environmental impact on water, air and ground quality.

The Dann Sisters, Mary Dann (1923–2005) and Carrie Dann (1932–2021), were Western Shoshone elders who were spiritual leaders, ranchers, and cultural, spiritual rights and land rights activists. They challenged the federal government over uses of their tribe's traditional land, in a case that reached the United States Supreme Court as U.S. v. Dann. In 1993, the Dann sisters received the Right Livelihood Award for "exemplary courage and perseverance in asserting the rights of indigenous people to their land."

In 1863, two years into the American Civil War, the US made the peace Treaty of Ruby Valley with the Western Shoshone, which was to allow US citizens safe passage through their territory, protect Pony Express and other access, and permit mining for gold on their land and future construction of railroads. The US needed the gold to conduct the war against the Confederacy. It defined the Western Shoshone territory as what is now a large portion of Nevada and four other states, as well as the underlying mineral rights, and said the Shoshone would never have to cede their land. It promised payment of annuities in cash or goods equaling $5000 annually for 20 years, but paid only the first year.

Over the ensuing decades, the US acquired much of the Western Shoshone land, largely by Congressional legislation. Most of the land is now held for resource management by federal agencies such as the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in the Department of Interior and the Department of Energy (DOE). The latter has used some of the land for nuclear testing, and has conducted more than 100 atmospheric tests, "more than anywhere else in the world." DOE has detonated nearly 1000 bombs on this territory.

The Western Shoshone filed suit decades ago to try to reclaim their land. In 1962 the now defunct Indian Claims Court (which expired in 1978) ruled the Shoshone had lost control of their land due to settler encroachment, and they were not entitled to any claim from the US government. As the case proceeded, in 1979 the Indian Claims Commission awarded a $26 million land claim settlement to the Western Shoshone. Part of the case went to federal courts for litigation. The US Supreme Court ruled in 1985 that the Shoshone land claims were extinguished by this financial settlement. The Shoshone refused to take the money, which is earning interest. Eighty percent of the Shoshone who voted on the issue were against accepting the financial settlement; instead, they asked the US to respect the terms of the 1863 treaty. Some Shoshone have wanted the tribe to take the money, and to distribute and invest it for the welfare of the tribe.

From 1973 till their deaths, the Dann sisters conducted civil protest by ranching and refusing to pay grazing fees to BLM to run their cattle outside their ranch on what they consider Shoshone land. They contended the US had taken the land illegally and not abided by the terms of its treaty. In 1982 some tribal members organized the Western Shoshone National Council as a governmental group; they elected Raymond Yowell as chief. It is an alternative to what they call the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) governments of the Duckwater Indian Reservation and Yomba Indian Reservations, which are federally recognized tribes with elected governments. Yowell has worked to ensure the tribes do not accept the settlement money (which was valued at up to $100 million in 1998) because that would extinguish their claims to their former territory.

In 1982 some tribal members organized the Western Shoshone National Council as a governmental group; they elected Raymond Yowell as chief. It is an alternative to what they call the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) governments of the Duckwater Indian Reservation and Yomba Indian Reservations, which are federally recognized tribes with elected governments. Yowell has worked to ensure the tribes do not accept the settlement money (which was valued at up to $100 million in 1998) because that would extinguish their claims to their former territory.

In 1998 BLM issued trespass notices to the Danns and Raymond Yowell, chief of the Western Shoshone Nation, ordering their removal of hundreds of cows and horses from public lands in Eureka County, Nevada. Carrie and Mary Dann filed a request for urgent action with the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. They had been active in the movement to recover millions of acres of land in Nevada and bordering states that originally belonged to the Western Shoshone tribe.

The Dann sisters persuaded the UN of their case. It ordered the US government to halt all actions against the Western Shoshone people, a mandate which was mostly ignored.

The 2008 documentary "American Outrage" and the 1993 documentary "Newe Segobia is Not for Sale" documented their lives, activism, and fight against the US government (and specifically the Federal Bureau of Land Management).

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter.

I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Michael Quinn

I'm appealing the search integrity of FOIPA Request No. 1490688-000 -- cross-referenced documents (such as images mentioned in the responsive documents) are missing and not noted in the deleted page information sheet. Additionally, information such as the processing notes/administrative case file for this request are excluded in their entirety. This leads me to believe my request for specific indices and systems to be checked were ignored entirely and as such, I've received significantly fewer responsive pages than I would have otherwise.