United States Court of Appeals

FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT

Argued April 11, 2006 Decided July 11, 2006

No. 05-5388

ELOUISE PEPION COBELL, ET AL.,

APPELLEES

v.

DIRK KEMPTHORNE, SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR, ET AL.,

APPELLANTS

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the District of Columbia

(No. 96cv01285)

Mark B. Stern, Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice, argued

the cause for appellants. With him on the briefs were Peter D.

Keisler, Assistant Attorney General, Kenneth L. Wainstein, U.S.

Attorney, Gregory G. Katsas, Deputy Assistant Attorney

General, Robert E. Kopp, Thomas M. Bondy, Alisa B. Klein,

Mark R. Freeman, I. Glenn Cohen, and Isaac J. Lidsky, Attorneys.

Dennis M. Gingold argued the cause for appellees. With

him on the brief were Elliott H. Levitas, G. William Austin, III,

Mark I. Levy, and Keith M. Harper.

Before: TATEL and BROWN, Circuit Judges, and

SILBERMAN, Senior Circuit Judge.
2

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge BROWN.

BROWN, Circuit Judge: This case presents for our review

yet another clash in a lawsuit that has found its way onto our

docket many times in recent years, resulting in seven published

opinions from this court. See In re Kempthorne, --- F.3d ----

 (D.C. Cir. 2006); Cobell v. Norton, 428 F.3d 1070 (D.C. Cir.

2005) (Cobell XVII); Cobell v. Norton, 392 F.3d 461 (D.C. Cir.

2004) (Cobell XIII); Cobell v. Norton, 391 F.3d 251 (D.C. Cir.

2004) (Cobell XII); In re Brooks, 383 F.3d 1036 (D.C. Cir.

2004); Cobell v. Norton, 334 F.3d 1128 (D.C. Cir. 2003); Cobell

v. Norton, 240 F.3d 1081 (D.C. Cir. 2001) (Cobell VI). The

Department of the Interior appeals a district court order of

injunctive relief requiring many of Interior’s computer systems

to be disconnected from the internet and internal computer

networks. The district court sought to protect the integrity of

individual Indian trust data (IITD) residing on Interior’s

computers. Because we conclude the court’s broad grant of

equitable relief was an abuse of discretion, we vacate the

injunction.

I

We need not delve too deeply into the extensive and oftrepeated history of this case. Briefly, the Secretary of the

Treasury and the Secretary of the Interior are currently the

designated trustee-delegates for the Individual Indian Money

(IIM) trust. Cobell VI, 240 F.3d at 1088-89. Interior is responsible for executing most of the government’s trust duties, although

Treasury holds and invests IIM funds. Id. Interior’s Bureau of

Indian Affairs (BIA) is responsible for managing the lands held

by the trust, including lease approvals and income collection,

while Interior’s Office of Trust Funds Management (OTFM)

deposits revenues, maintains IIM accounts for individual

Indians, and distributes funds to beneficiaries. Id. at 1088.
3

In 1994, Congress passed the American Indian Trust Fund

Management Reform Act (the 1994 Act), Pub. L. No. 103-412,

108 Stat. 4239 (1995), which “recognized the federal government’s preexisting trust responsibilities” and “further identified

some of the Interior Secretary’s duties to ensure ‘proper discharge of the trust responsibilities of the United States.’” Cobell

VI, 240 F.3d at 1090 (quoting 25 U.S.C. § 162a(d)). These duties

include “[p]roviding adequate systems for accounting for and

reporting trust fund balances,” “[p]roviding adequate controls

over receipts and disbursements,” “[p]roviding periodic, timely

reconciliations to assure the accuracy of accounts,” and

“[p]reparing and supplying periodic statements of account

performance and balances to account holders.” Id. (internal

quotation marks and ellipses omitted).

Appellees, beneficiaries of the IIM trust accounts, brought

this class action suit in 1996 “to compel performance of trust

obligations.” Id. at 1086, 1092. Some of the proceedings

subsequently conducted by the district court related to Interior’s

problems maintaining adequate computer security. On December 5, 2001, the district court entered a temporary restraining

order requiring Interior to disconnect from the internet all

information technology (IT) systems that housed or provided

access to IITD. See Cobell v. Norton, 274 F. Supp. 2d 111, 113

(D.D.C. 2003) (Cobell IX). Later that month, Interior entered

into a consent decree providing that it would only reconnect its

systems to the internet with the consent of a special master, id.

at 113-14; this arrangement resulted in about 95% of Interior’s

computers being reconnected within a year, Cobell v. Norton,

310 F. Supp. 2d 77, 82 (D.D.C. 2004) (Cobell XI). The special

master came to suspect, however, that some of Interior’s

employees were thwarting efforts to test the security of Interior’s IT systems. Cobell IX, 274 F. Supp. 2d at 114-24. The

district court entered a preliminary injunction requiring Interior

once again to disconnect all computers from the internet, with a
4

few exceptions, and allowing reconnection only upon the district

court’s approval. Cobell v. Norton, 310 F. Supp. 2d 98, 99-101

(D.D.C. 2004) (Cobell XI Order).

On appeal, we explained that the district court had “authority to exercise its discretion as a court of equity in fashioning a

remedy to right a century-old wrong or to enforce a consent

decree.” Cobell XII, 391 F.3d at 257. As “[t]he district court did

not order . . . wholesale programmatic changes” or “include

particular tasks for Interior to perform based on policies

developed by the district court,” we rejected Interior’s argument

that the injunction “violated the separation of powers.” Id. at

258. Nevertheless, we still found that the district court erred in

issuing the preliminary injunction. The district court had

erroneously shifted the burden of persuasion to Interior to show

why disconnection was unnecessary, id. at 259, and had also

erred by disregarding Interior’s certifications on IT security as

procedurally and substantively defective, id. at 260-61. Finally,

we stated that the district court abused its discretion in granting

the injunction without first holding an evidentiary hearing, as

material facts were in dispute and almost nine months had

passed since a previous hearing. Id. at 261-62.

II

Before proceeding to our discussion of the current disconnection order, we pause to address an alleged conflict between

our prior decisions in this case. Both parties cite this court’s

prior precedent in support of opposing perspectives. Interior

argues that the district court, by issuing the new computer

disconnection order, has improperly injected itself into the dayto-day management of the agency, ignoring this court’s prior

warnings against judicial entanglement in policy disputes. The

class members argue that Interior’s arguments are foreclosed by

Cobell XII; they claim that Cobell XIII and XVII conflict with
5

that slightly earlier decision (as well as with Cobell VI), and that

in deciding this case, we are not bound by the later opinions. As

we explain, the alleged conflict is illusory, though some degree

of confusion is understandable. In the course of this litigation,

we have repeatedly described the interaction of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and the common law of trusts, though

with slightly different emphases depending on the issue before

us. Yet careful analysis reveals no significant, substantive

disagreement between our decisions. As in earlier cases, both

the APA and the common law of trusts apply in this case; the

specific question to be addressed determines which body of law

becomes most prominent.

In Cobell VI, we addressed the district court’s finding that

Interior had breached its trust duties. We noted that the class

members sought injunctive and declaratory relief; thus, the

federal government’s sovereign immunity was waived under the

APA. 240 F.3d at 1094-95. We also looked to the APA for

resolution of another jurisdictional issue, i.e., the presence of

final agency action, which is a prerequisite to judicial review. Id.

at 1095. While we found no final action in that case, we

nonetheless found the class members’ claims to be reviewable,

since under the APA, “federal courts may exercise jurisdiction

to compel agency action ‘unlawfully withheld or unreasonably

denied.’” Id. (quoting 5 U.S.C. § 706). However, though we

looked primarily to administrative law concepts in resolving

jurisdictional issues, we did not proceed in the same manner

when construing the trust duties implied by the 1994 Act. We

acknowledged that under Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural

Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837 (1984), “ordinarily we defer to an agency’s interpretations of ambiguous

statutes entrusted to it for administration,” but we declined to

defer to Interior’s interpretation of the Act. Cobell VI, 240 F.3d

at 1100. We gave Interior’s interpretation “‘careful consideration,’” id. at 1101(quoting Muscogee (Creek) Nation v. Hodel,
6

851 F.2d 1439, 1445 n.8 (D.C. Cir. 1988)), but the normallyapplicable deference was trumped by the requirement that

“‘statutes are to be construed liberally in favor of the Indians,

with ambiguous provisions interpreted to their benefit,’” id.

(quoting Montana v. Blackfeet Tribe of Indians, 471 U.S. 759,

766 (1985)).

In determining the scope of the government’s duties, we

found that both administrative law and trust law applied. “While

the government’s obligations are rooted in and outlined by the

relevant statutes and treaties, they are largely defined in traditional equitable terms.” Id. at 1099. Thus, “‘the government’s

fiduciary responsibilities necessarily depend on the substantive

laws creating those obligations,’” id. at 1098 (quoting ShoshoneBannock Tribes v. Reno, 56 F.3d 1476, 1482 (D.C. Cir. 1995)),

but “[c]ourts ‘must infer that Congress intended to impose on

trustees traditional fiduciary duties unless Congress has unequivocally expressed an intent to the contrary,’” id. (quoting

NLRB v. Amax Coal Co., 453 U.S. 322, 330 (1981)). At the

same time, “[d]espite the imposition of fiduciary duties, federal

officials retain a substantial amount of discretion to order their

priorities.” Id. The presence of fiduciary duties does limit this

discretion: “When faced with several policy choices, an administrator is generally allowed to select any reasonable option,” but

choices made when acting as a trustee must also satisfy fiduciary

obligations. Id. Thus, when we upheld the district court’s finding

that an accounting was required, we noted approvingly that

“[t]he district court explicitly left open the choice of how the

accounting would be conducted, and whether certain accounting

methods, such as statistical sampling or something else, would

be appropriate.” Id. at 1104. “Such decisions,” we concluded,

“are properly left in the hands of administrative agencies.” Id.

In Cobell XII, we reviewed the district court’s first computer disconnection order. We pointed out that Cobell VI “did
7

not limit the district court’s authority to exercise its discretion as

a court of equity in fashioning a remedy to right a century-old

wrong or to enforce a consent decree.” 391 F.3d at 257. “[T]he

narrower judicial powers appropriate under the APA do not

apply” when the court is fashioning equitable remedies for

breaches of fiduciary duties. Id. We stated that “because the

underlying lawsuit is both an Indian case and a trust case in

which the trustees have egregiously breached their fiduciary

duties,” the district court “retains substantial latitude, much

more so than in the typical agency case, to fashion an equitable

remedy.” Id. at 257-58. We rejected Interior’s argument that the

district court’s role should have been confined to “retaining

jurisdiction and ordering periodic progress reports”; however,

we still recognized limits on the district court’s ability to craft

relief. Id. at 258. The district court could not order “wholesale

programmatic changes” or prescribe “particular tasks for Interior

to perform based on policies developed by the district court.” Id.

While we ultimately vacated the disconnection order, we found

that the district court properly “limited its role to accepting or

rejecting the Secretary’s proposals, rather than dictating their

substance or even the standard for measuring the security of

Interior’s IT systems.” Id.

One week later, in Cobell XIII, we applied these concepts

to a “structural injunction” issued by the district court, upholding one portion of the injunction and vacating the rest. 392 F.3d

at 478. We reiterated that under the APA, courts may only

review specific agency action or unreasonable delay by an

agency; courts cannot order “programmatic improvements,” id.

at 472 (quoting Lujan v. Nat’l Wildlife Fed’n, 497 U.S. 871, 891

(1990)) or “compel[] compliance with broad statutory mandates,” id. (quoting Norton v. S. Utah Wilderness Alliance, 542

U.S. 55, 66 (2004)). At the same time, we acknowledged the

role played by the common law of trusts, which “flesh[es] out

the statutory mandates” assigned to Interior. Id. at 473. Yet even
8

the “availability of the common law of trusts cannot fully

neutralize the limits placed by the APA and the [Supreme]

Court’s Lujan and Southern Utah decisions,” as similar limits

exist even within that venerable body of law:

While a court might certainly act to prevent or remedy

a trustee’s wrongful intermingling of trust accounts, this

does not imply that the normal remedy would be an order

specifying how the trustee should program its computers to

avoid intermingling, as opposed to, for example, barring the

use of a program that had caused forbidden intermingling

or was clearly likely to do so. See Bogert & Bogert, Law of

Trusts and Trustees § 861, p. 22 (“If the trustee has been

given discretion with respect to the act in question, . . . the

court will not interfere by ordering him to take a certain line

of conduct unless there is proof of an abuse of the discretion

. . . .”). “[A] court of equity will not interfere to control

[trustees] in the exercise of a discretion vested in them by

the instrument under which they act.” Firestone Tire and

Rubber Co. v. Bruch, 489 U.S. 101, 111 (1989) (internal

quotation marks and citation omitted).

Id.

Applying these standards, we upheld a portion of the district

court’s order that “in effect required discovery of Interior’s

plans consistent with the district court’s broad case management

authority.” Id. at 474. However, other parts of the order went

much further, requiring Interior to implement its trust management plan and identify areas where its plan might conflict with

its fiduciary duties. Id. Essentially, the district court “propose[d]

to use the ‘plan’ as a device for indefinitely extended all-purpose

supervision of the defendants’ compliance with . . . sixteen

general fiduciary duties.” Id. We held that such judicial monitoring was only appropriate to the extent that it was based on
9

specific findings of unlawful behavior, and we explained that the

“district court cannot issue enforcement remedies . . . for trust

breaches that it has not found to have occurred.” Id. As the

district court had not made sufficient findings that Interior had

breached trust duties, its order to implement the trust management plan amounted to an overbroad “order to obey the law in

managing the trusts.” Id. at 475. Thus, we vacated the order

“insofar as it direct[ed] Interior, rather than the plaintiffs, to

identify defects in its proposal and require[d] the agency to

comply” with its proposed trust management plan. Id. We also

vacated a requirement that Interior compile a list of applicable

tribal laws, as that instruction “seem[ed] a specification not of

Interior’s trust duties but of the court’s preferred methodology

for assuring Interior’s fulfillment of those duties,” and thereby

“collide[d] with the APA, Lujan, and Southern Utah.” Id.

Finally, in Cobell XVII, we vacated the district court’s

reissued injunction ordering a historical accounting. 428 F.3d at

1079. We noted the 1994 Act, which reaffirmed Interior’s duty

to provide an accounting, did not prescribe the scope of the

accounting; thus, “[i]n the ordinary APA case Interior would

clearly enjoy a high degree of deference to its interpretation of

the 1994 Act, including its ideas on the appropriate trade-off

between absolute accuracy and cost (in time and money).” Id. at

1074. We recognized, however, that although the class members’ “core claim” was brought under the APA (as they sought

to compel agency action that had been unreasonably delayed),

the dispute was “not an ordinary APA case.” Id. The common

law of trusts limited the deference we would give to Interior’s

interpretation of the Act. Id. Still, “because the IIM trust differs

from ordinary private trusts along a number of dimensions, the

common law of trusts [did not] offer a clear path for resolving

statutory ambiguities” regarding accounting methodology. Id.

As neither statutory language nor trust principles established a

“definitive balance between exactitude and cost” in performing
10

1The history of “the use” as a method of conveying property can

be traced back to a “slight but unbroken thread of cases, beginning

while the Conquest is yet recent.” 2 Frederick Pollock & Frederic

William Maitland, The History of English Law 231 (2d ed. 1923).

Indeed, “the development from century to century of the trust idea”

has been called “the greatest and most distinctive achievement

performed by Englishmen in the field of jurisprudence.” 1 Austin

Wakeman Scott & William Franklin Fratcher, The Law of Trusts § 1

(4th ed. 1987) (quoting Frederic William Maitland, Selected Essays

129 (1936)).

the accounting, we concluded “the district court owed substantial deference to Interior’s plan.” Id. at 1076. We noted that

“[t]he choices at issue required both subject-matter expertise and

judgment about the allocation of scarce resources, classic

reasons for deference to administrators.” Id. Hence, the district

court erred when it “quite bluntly treated the character of the

accounting as its domain” and “displaced Interior as the actor

with primary responsibility for ‘working out compliance with

the broad statutory mandate.’” Id. (quoting S. Utah, 542 U.S. at

66-67) (brackets omitted).

While our prior decisions in this case have thus relied on

administrative law and trust law to varying degrees on different

occasions, we have always clearly held that both bodies of law

apply. Because this case involves the management of a trust, our

decisions draw on the principles of trust law developed by

Anglo-American jurisprudence over the course of nearly a

thousand years of experience using this venerable legal structure.1

 Yet because we are addressing the operations of an

executive agency, we are also bound by the rules of administrative law (despite the somewhat less-storied pedigree of the APA,

a relative newcomer at only sixty years old). Where these two

bodies of law would lead us to different results, we must decide

which of the two more appropriately governs the specific
11

question at hand. Thus, we looked to the APA to find a waiver

of sovereign immunity, allowing the class members to seek

nonmonetary relief against the government. Cobell VI, 240 F.3d

at 1094. Similarly, we applied APA standards in determining

whether Interior had unreasonably delayed the performance of

its duties, thereby subjecting itself to judicial review. Id. at

1095-96. Such analysis was necessary because our jurisdiction

is limited to addressing specific agency action or inaction.

Cobell XIII, 392 F.3d at 472. On the other hand, while the trust

relationship arises out of statutes, the government’s obligations

“are largely defined in traditional equitable terms.” Cobell VI,

240 F.3d at 1098-99; see also Cobell XII, 391 F.3d at 257. We

rely on the common law to “flesh out” the statutory mandates

and determine the precise contours of the government’s responsibilities. Cobell XIII, 392 F.3d at 473; see also Cobell XVII, 428

F.3d at 1074-75; Cobell XII, 391 F.3d at 257; Cobell VI, 240

F.3d at 1099, 1101.

The two bodies of law overlap in shaping our ability to

grant relief once a specific breach of an established duty has

been found. Because “an on-going program or policy is not, in

itself, a ‘final agency action’ under the APA,” our jurisdiction

does not extend to reviewing generalized complaints about

agency behavior. Cobell VI, 240 F.3d at 1095. Consequently, as

each case only presents the court with a narrow question to

resolve, it can have no occasion to order wholesale reform of an

agency program. Id.; see also Cobell XIII, 392 F.3d at 472;

Cobell XII, 391 F.3d at 258. Still, “because the underlying

lawsuit is both an Indian case and a trust case in which the

trustees have egregiously breached their fiduciary duties,” the

court “retains substantial latitude, much more so than in the

typical agency case, to fashion an equitable remedy.” Cobell XII,

391 F.3d at 257; see also Cobell VI, 240 F.3d at 1109. These

equitable powers, limited at one end of the spectrum by the

court’s inability to order broad, programmatic reforms, are also
12

limited in the opposite direction by an inability to require the

agency to follow a detailed plan of action. The court generally

may not prescribe specific tasks for Interior to complete; it must

allow Interior to exercise its discretion and utilize its expertise

in complying with broad statutory mandates. Cobell VI, 240

F.3d at 1099, 1106; see also Cobell XII, 391 F.3d at 258. These

restraints are put in place by both administrative law, see Cobell

XVII, 428 F.3d at 1076 (quoting S. Utah, 542 U.S. at 66-67), and

trust law, see Cobell XIII, 392 F.3d at 473 (quoting Firestone

Tire & Rubber Co., 489 U.S. at 111). The ability of the agency

itself to exercise its discretion is somewhat constrained, however. Rather than its normal freedom to choose “any reasonable

option,” the agency’s actions must satisfy fiduciary standards.

Cobell VI, 240 F.3d at 1099.

III

With this background in mind, we turn to the most recent

computer disconnection order issued by the district court. After

we vacated the previous disconnection order in Cobell XII, the

class members filed a motion in the district court for a new

injunction that would yet again require disconnection of Interior’s computers from the internet. Cobell v. Norton, 394 F.

Supp. 2d 164, 169 (D.D.C. 2005) (Cobell XVI). In response, the

district court held a fifty-nine day evidentiary hearing to

evaluate Interior’s current IT security. Id. at 170.

In its extensive findings of fact, which Interior does not

challenge, the district court reviewed the development of

Interior’s IT security over the last few years. In a 2002 report to

Congress, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) stated

that less than a third of Interior’s IT systems had an up-to-date

security plan and that less than a fourth of the systems had

passed a security certification and accreditation process. See id.

at 189. OMB noted that these statistics were not necessarily
13

reliable, as Interior lacked a complete inventory of its IT

systems. Id. Additionally, OMB found that Interior had not

implemented some of its own security policies. Id. In 2003,

Interior’s Inspector General (IG) evaluated the Department’s

security pursuant to the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA). Id. at 177, 190. The IG cited the same

problems reported by OMB the previous year, and also found

that Interior did not have an effective program for providing

security training to employees and contractors. Id. at 190-92.

The IG’s 2004 report found that Interior’s IT security

management program was “effectively designed” to meet

FISMA’s requirements but again concluded that the program

had not been consistently implemented. Id. at 193-94. The IG

tested twenty systems and found that the majority of them had

not been properly certified and accredited. Id. at 194. Interior

had particularly failed to provide sufficient oversight of IT

systems run by contractors and to document security procedures

adequately. Id. at 194-95. Interior did conduct some security

testing on its IT systems, but it relied primarily on a tool that

scanned only for the twenty most serious security weaknesses.

Id. at 196. Also, the IG again noted that Interior needed to

develop consistent policies for IT security training. Id. at 198.

The IG also conducted extensive testing of the security of

Interior’s wireless networking technology in 2003 and 2004. Id.

at 223. Diann Sandy, who managed this testing, found Interior

likely still lacked a complete inventory of its wireless devices.

Id. at 226. Sandy’s team also identified several other problems

with Interior’s management of its wireless network security,

including failure to manage the range of its wireless signals,

insufficient security controls on its wireless networks, and

inadequate physical security in locations with wireless networks.
14

2 In April 2004, Interior issued a moratorium on the use of

wireless technology, id. at 237-38, although apparently some offices

may not be complying with the directive, id. at 241.

Id. at 227.2 Sandy also oversaw a review of Interior’s “plan of

action and milestones” (POA & M) program. Id. at 229. For

each IT system or program where a security weakness had been

located, Interior was supposed to have a POA & M that would

identify the actions needed to correct the weakness and specify

a schedule for correction. Id. at 230. Sandy’s review found that

not all known weaknesses were included in Interior’s departmental POA & M and that many weaknesses reported as

corrected had not actually been fixed. Id. at 231-33.

In the 2005 FISMA evaluation, the IG added a significant

new element to its evaluations of Interior’s IT security by hiring

contractors to conduct external penetration testing. Id. at 199-

202. The penetration testing was designed to identify systems’

vulnerabilities by simulating attacks by outside parties with

limited prior knowledge of Interior’s computer systems. Id. at

203. Under the “Rules of Engagement” governing the testing,

the contractors could use a wide variety of tools, including

licensed security software, publicly-available freeware, custom

developed utilities, and social engineering techniques. Id. at 203

& n.18. Although the contractors were prohibited from modifying files, disabling users, or denying service, their goal was to

gain “administrator” or “root” privileges, which would enable

them to control the targeted systems. Id. at 203.

Scott Miles performed the penetration testing of systems at

several of Interior’s bureaus. Testing at the Bureau of Land

Management (BLM) revealed a number of vulnerabilities that

put the systems at risk of unauthorized access from the internet.

Id. at 205. Miles was able to gain administrator privileges to at

least two systems after initial penetration of the network,
15

3Miles did discover another system containing some MMS data

that was run by a “non-governmental entity,” but he was not able to

obtain permission to fully test that system’s vulnerabilities. Id. at 214.

including an email archiving system and a system used to

manage data from land surveys. Id. at 206. Some of BLM’s

systems’ vulnerabilities were due to conscious policy choices

regarding interagency access to information, rather than mere

failure to implement security practices. Id. Still, BLM severed

most of its systems’ internet access as a result of the testing. Id.

at 205. Penetration testing of the BIA network had to be

performed on-site, as that bureau was already disconnected from

the internet; only one BIA location had its network tested. Id. at

209-11. Miles found that the BIA network would have “an

extremely small footprint for such a large organization” if it

were reconnected. Id. at 210. However, Miles did observe “a

server room with quite a few servers in it” at the BIA facility,

leading him to question whether he had truly been given access

to their entire network. Id. at 211. Miles also tested the network

at Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation (BOR), where he was able

to access multiple BOR systems through one particular vulnerability in a web application. Id. at 212. The penetration was not

noticed by BOR for seven days, and it took three more days to

block access to other systems. Id. at 213. In contrast, Miles was

not able to penetrate into any systems at Interior’s Mineral

Management Service (MMS), despite finding a few vulnerabilities. Id. at 213-14.3

Testing of the systems at Interior’s National Business

Center (NBC) was performed by another contractor, Philip

Brass, who was able to enter NBC’s most sensitive networks and

gain access to financial records and other data. Id. at 215-16.

Brass initially exploited a vulnerability in an NBC web application and successfully used that entrance point to access several

other linked databases and even another agency’s network. Id.
16

at 217-19. Ultimately, Brass was able to access personal

information regarding over 72,000 Interior employees; for

dramatic effect, he assembled dossiers on several high-level

officials, including data such as social security numbers and

even a list of bank card charges. Id. at 218.

After reviewing these and other evidentiary findings, the

district court concluded that, though Interior had made significant progress in improving its IT security over the previous few

years, “severe and sometimes catastrophic problems remain.” Id.

at 249.

Certification and accreditation documents have been found

to be incomplete, or sometimes missing entirely, resulting

in the decertification of systems. The most critical IT

security process, the departmental POA & M program, is

currently broken, resulting in uncertainty both as to the

nature and number of weaknesses in IT systems, and as to

whether and to what extent known weaknesses have been

corrected. Interior has not implemented a coherent policy to

ensure that wireless networking devices do not compromise

the security of wired networks. Interior has not even begun

to fulfill its responsibility to ensure that its systems and data

housed on private contractor networks are adequately

secure . . . . System inventories are incomplete, IT security

training is inadequate, and mission-critical systems lack

essential, fundamental technical controls.

Id. The district court found that Interior’s IT managers “seem

incapable of ensuring the implementation of IT security policies

on the one hand, and recognizing fundamental, systemic flaws

in those policies on the other.” Id. Additionally, the district court

identified deficiencies in Interior’s management of internal

network security against threats from sources such as employees, contractors, and tribes—i.e., those who could misuse
17

legitimate network access. Id. at 254-55. The district court found

that Interior had “no concrete plans for implementation” of

penetration testing against internal threats, and that Interior “has

not incorporated evaluation of third-party systems housing

Interior assets into its overall IT security program.” Id. at 255-

56.

The district court particularly criticized Interior’s handling

of Indian trust data, pointing out that Interior lacked “any

standard, department-wide definition of trust data.” Id. at 261.

The district court speculated that “fundamental confusion” over

what constitutes trust data “may be a cause of Interior’s continuing inability to carry out what seems to be the most immediate,

commonsense step to securi[ng] electronic trust data—namely

segregating IITD on secure servers separate from Interior’s

accessible IT networks and systems.” Id. Interior did categorize

trust systems as “high risk,” not because it had “made a firm

determination that they represented high risk but to give them

priority within the department” due to Interior’s “court environment,” presumably a reference to this litigation. Id. at 261-62.

Several Interior employees objected to categorizing trust

systems as “high risk” under the current guidelines, as no

“potential result for loss of human life or . . . catastrophic

impact” would result if the systems became inoperable; those

employees argued that a “moderate” categorization would be

more appropriate. Id. at 263. The district court faulted this

reasoning, finding that it did not “take into account the special

impacts that a breach of the confidentiality, integrity, or

availability of IITD would have on both individual Indian trust

beneficiaries and Interior.” Id. at 263-64. Because “any loss of

trust data carries the additional potential impact of legal liability

for breach of fiduciary duty,” the district court found that

“[i]ntuitively, . . . Interior ought to incorporate these additional

impacts into its data sensitivity classifications,” such as by

“treating Trust data and Trust systems as ‘high risk.’” Id. at 264.
18

The Court is thus concerned that Interior may be presently

failing to incorporate its fiduciary obligations to preserve

IITD into its IT security policy generally, and into its

[certification and accreditation] program specifically. To be

sure, certification and accreditation is the standard with

which Interior must comply to adhere to OMB’s guidance

for complying with FISMA. However, the Court cannot

accept certification and accreditation alone as sufficient to

show that Interior’s IT systems are presently adequately

secure to comply with Interior’s fiduciary obligations as

Trustee-delegate for the IIM trust.

Id. Hence, the district court found “an overall failure of departmental IT-management to place the proper emphasis on compliance with Interior’s fiduciary obligations in implementing the

department’s overall IT security program.” Id. at 266.

While acknowledging that “it is generally considered

impossible to create a perfectly secure IT environment,” the

district court nonetheless stated that “Interior’s fiduciary

obligation to preserve IITD requires that IT security take a

prominent position among the department’s priorities.” Id. at

269. The district court faulted the IG for failing “to place special

emphasis on scrutinizing” the security of trust data. Id. at 270.

It acknowledged that Interior has “a variety of non-Indian

customers to serve, and a massive amount of non-Indian Trust

related data and IT infrastructure to secure,” and noted that

Interior could not “overemphasize some areas of IT security at

the expense of others.” Id. Still, it stated that

Interior’s fiduciary obligations as Trustee-Delegate for the

IIM trust differentiate its IT security position from that of

other federal agencies. While all Interior IT systems

generally should be expected to conform to industry and

government standards for adequate IT security, its systems
19

housing or accessing Trust Data must meet a higher standard.

Id.

Based on these findings, the district court decided to grant

the class members’ request for an injunction. The district court

found that the class members, “having already succeeded in the

initial phases of this litigation [regarding Interior’s breach of

trust duties], have certainly demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success on the merits” of their action for an accounting.

Id. at 273. Next, the district court found that corruption or loss

of trust records would be an irreparable injury to the class

members and that the “evidence demonstrates that the current

state of IT security at Interior places IITD at imminent risk of

corruption or loss.” Id. The district court acknowledged that

issuing an injunction would cause “inevitable harm to Interior,”

as the department’s operations would be disrupted by an order

requiring the disconnection of computer systems. Id. at 274.

While conceding that injunctive relief would not be “likely to

prove popular in governmental circles,” the district court

decided that it could fashion relief “that minimizes the impact of

disconnection on Interior’s ability to function and service its

customers.” Id. Indeed, the district court speculated that a

disconnection order may be in Interior’s own best interest, as it

could “illuminate the pervasive problems that continue to plague

Interior’s IT security environment.” Id. at 274-75. Still, it

conceded, “[p]riorities will likely have to be shuffled, resources

will likely have to be redirected, and processes will likely have

to be adapted temporarily.” Id. at 275.

Finally, the district court found that the public interest

supported issuing an injunction. Systems serving critical

functions such as fire suppression could be exempted from

disconnection, and, the court found, “Interior will be able to
20

4The court defined “Information Technology System” as

Any computer, server, equipment, device, network, intranet,

enclave, or application, or any subsystem thereof, that is used

by Interior or any of its employees, agents, contractors, or

other third parties in the electronic acquisition, storage,

manipulation, management, movement, control, display,

switching, interchange, transmission, or reception of data or

other information, including without limitation computers,

wireless devices (e.g. Blackberrys) and networks, voice over

the Internet protocol (VOIP), ancillary equipment, devices, or

similar services or protocols, including support services,

software, firmware, and related resources.

Id. at 276-77.

work around the absence of Internet connectivity in the short

term to continue to provide services to the Indians while it

secures their IITD.” Id. The district court found that as “IIM

trust beneficiaries comprise approximately 1/600th of the

population of the country,” the class members’ interests “are a

good percentage of the public interest in general.” Id. The

district court also found that the interests of the rest of the public

supported the same conclusion: “As far as Interior’s other

customers are concerned, their interests are similarly best

protected if Interior’s IT systems are adequately secure,” and

“[e]very citizen of this country has an interest in seeing his or

her government carry out its legal duties.” Id.

The order issued by the district court required Interior to

“disconnect all Information Technology Systems that [h]ouse or

provide [a]ccess to Individual Indian Trust Data” from the

internet, “all intranet connections,” “all other Information

Technology Systems,” and “any contractors, Tribes, or other

third parties.” Id. at 277-78.4

 The court gave Interior twenty days

to identify systems not housing or providing access to IITD,
21

permitting the class members to contest those designations. Id.

at 278. The district court exempted from disconnection IT

systems “necessary for protection against fires or other such

threats to life, property, or national security,” although the class

members could contest those system designations as well. Id.

Interior would be allowed to reconnect any IT systems

housing or providing access to IITD for up to five days per

month, in order to receive or distribute trust funds or “conduct[]

other necessary financial transactions.” Id. In order to permanently reconnect the affected systems, Interior would be

required to file a proposal including “all of the following”:

(a) a uniform standard to be used to evaluate the security of

all Information Technology Systems which House or

provide Access to Individual Indian Trust Data within the

custody or control of the United States Department of

Interior, its bureaus, offices, agencies, agents, contractors,

or any other third party; (b) a detailed process whereby the

uniform standard will be applied to each such Information

Technology System; (c) a detailed explanation of how such

Information Technology System complies with the uniform

standard; (d) copies of all documentation relevant to [t]he

security of each such Information Technology System; and

(e) a plan to provide monitoring and testing on an ongoing

basis and quarterly reporting to this Court regarding the

security of such Information Technology Systems.

Id. The class members could then respond to any such proposal,

after which the Court would “conduct any necessary evidentiary

hearing and decide whether a proposed Information Technology

System may be reconnected and order further relief, as appropriate.” Id.
22

IV

Interior argues that “[n]othing in . . . FISMA could plausibly be construed to mandate [the] disconnections” ordered by

the district court. Appellant’s Br. 48. As a brief examination of

the statutory structure will demonstrate, this argument fails to

address the real issues in this case, as we are concerned with

Interior’s trust duties, not with the decisions made by Interior

under FISMA. FISMA is intended to “provide a comprehensive

framework for ensuring the effectiveness of information security

controls over information resources that support Federal

operations and assets.” 44 U.S.C. § 3541(1). The statute is also

designed to “recognize the highly networked nature of the

current Federal computing environment and provide effective

governmentwide management and oversight of the related

information security risks.” Id. § 3541(2). To achieve those

goals, FISMA assigns responsibilities to the Director of OMB

and to the head of each agency.

FISMA makes the head of each agency responsible for

“providing information security protections commensurate with

the risk and magnitude of the harm resulting from unauthorized

access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction

of” agency information. Id. § 3544(a)(1)(A). The agency head

must ensure that senior agency officials assess “the risk and

magnitude” of those possible harms and implement “policies

and procedures to cost-effectively reduce risks to an acceptable

level.” Id. § 3544(a)(2)(A)-(C). He must also ensure that senior

officials “periodically test[] and evaluat[e]” these security

controls. Id. § 3544(a)(2)(D).

The Director of OMB is charged with “developing and

overseeing the implementation of policies, principles, standards,

and guidelines on information security.” Id. § 3543(a)(1). He

may “enforce accountability for compliance” with FISMA’s
23

requirements by “tak[ing] any action that [he] considers

appropriate, including an action involving the budgetary process

or appropriations management process.” Id. § 3543(a)(4); 40

U.S.C. § 11303(b)(5)(A). Additionally, the Director must review

each agency’s security programs at least annually and approve

or disapprove them. 44 U.S.C. § 3543(a)(5). Finally, he must

report to Congress annually regarding agency compliance,

including identifying “significant deficiencies in agency

information security practices” and planned remedial actions to

address such deficiencies. Id. § 3543(a)(8).

Each agency must “develop, document, and implement an

agencywide information security program” approved by the

Director of OMB. Id. § 3544(b). In addition to the requirements

discussed above, the program must include “security awareness

training” for agency personnel and contractors and “procedures

for detecting, reporting, and responding to security incidents.”

Id. § 3544(b)(4), (7). Each agency is required to report annually

to the Director of the OMB and to Congress on “the adequacy

and effectiveness” of its security program, including reporting

any “significant deficienc[ies].” Id. § 3544(c)(1), (3). Within

each agency, an independent auditor, generally that agency’s

Inspector General, must perform an independent annual evaluation of the security program; the results of this evaluation must

be included in OMB’s report to Congress. Id. § 3545(a)-(g).

Finally, the Comptroller General is also required to “periodically

evaluate and report to Congress” on agencies’ implementation

of FISMA. Id. § 3545(h).

In complying with their obligations under FISMA, the

Director of OMB and agency heads must also ensure compliance with information security standards promulgated by the

Department of Commerce. See, e.g., id. §§ 3543(a)(1)-(2),

3544(a)(1)(B)(i) (incorporating the requirements of 40 U.S.C.

§ 11331). The Secretary of Commerce can make those standards
24

5 Interior has not argued that FISMA is a “statute[] preclud[ing]

judicial review” under 5 U.S.C. § 701(a).

“compulsory and binding to the extent determined necessary by

the Secretary to improve the efficiency of operation or security

of Federal information systems.” 40 U.S.C. § 11331(b)(1). The

Secretary of Commerce must exercise this authority “in coordination with the Director of [OMB]” and must base the standards

on “standards and guidelines developed by the National Institute

of Standards and Technology” (NIST). Id. § 11331(a)(1). The

NIST, in turn, is required by statute to “consult with other

agencies and offices” (including at least six enumerated agencies) when developing its standards and guidelines. 15 U.S.C.

§ 278g-3(c)(1). The purpose of such collaboration is to “improve

information security and avoid unnecessary and costly duplication of effort,” as well as to ensure that the standards and

guidelines “are complementary with standards and guidelines

employed for the protection of national security systems and

information contained in such systems.” Id. § 278g-3(c)(1)(A),

(B). The NIST’s standards and guidelines must not require

“specific technological solutions or products” and must “permit

the use of off-the-shelf commercially developed” products as

much as possible. Id. § 278g-3(c)(5), (7). The NIST must give

the public a chance to comment on proposed standards and

guidelines, id. § 278g-3(c)(2), and must provide agencies with

assistance with implementation, id. § 278g-3(d)(2).

FISMA, nestled as it is within this multilayered statutory

scheme, thus includes a role for OMB, the Department of

Commerce, the NIST, the Comptroller General, Congress, the

public, and multiple officials within each agency subject to the

statute. Notably absent from FISMA is a role for the judicial

branch. We are far from certain that courts would ever be able

to review the choices an agency makes in carrying out its

FISMA obligations,5

 but we need not explore that question any
25

6Accordingly, we need not consider the propriety of the district

court’s choice to criticize the security levels that Interior assigned to

trust data, nor whether Interior acted consistently with FISMA in

upgrading the security levels of IITD based on its “court

environment.” See Cobell XVI, 394 F. Supp. 2d at 21-64.

further today. The only issue we need to decide here is whether

the district court was justified in granting such broad equitable

relief to the class members, not whether Interior’s actions have

been sufficient to achieve the goals of FISMA.6 We express no

opinion as to whether FISMA would on its own require Interior

to disconnect its IT systems from the internet and internal

networks. This is not a FISMA compliance case, whether or not

such an animal exists elsewhere.

V

We thus arrive at the question of whether the equitable

relief granted by the district court was proper. The district court

styled this relief as a preliminary injunction, Cobell XVI, 394 F.

Supp. 2d at 272, but the injunction is more than merely “preliminary.” “The usual role of a preliminary injunction is to preserve

the status quo pending the outcome of litigation.” Dist. 50,

United Mine Workers of Am. v. Int’l Union, United Mine

Workers of Am., 412 F.2d 165, 168 (D.C. Cir. 1969). The

ultimate relief sought in this case is an accounting of the IIM

trust, but the role of the injunctive relief granted by the district

court was not to protect the class members’ interests while the

court determines whether an accounting would take place. The

class members have already prevailed on their most fundamental

arguments: the court has recognized their right to an accounting

and found that Interior has unreasonably delayed providing that

accounting. See Cobell VI, 240 F.3d at 1095-97. The injunction

serves as a preparatory step toward that eventual accounting

(whatever its form), as the district court intended to protect
26

electronic trust records while an accounting could be planned

and completed. Thus, although the nature and scope of the

accounting have yet to be determined, the disconnection order

cannot accurately be called a “preliminary” injunction. Rather,

it is a collateral portion of the ultimate relief sought by the class

members.

We review the decision to issue an injunction for abuse of

discretion. Weinberger v. Romero-Barcelo, 456 U.S. 305, 320

(1982); Woerner v. U.S. Small Bus. Admin., 934 F.2d 1277,

1279 (D.C. Cir. 1991). To determine whether injunctive relief is

appropriate, we must balance the equities and hardships on both

sides, Woerner, 934 F.2d at 1279, and must pay particular regard

to whether such relief would further the public interest, RomeroBarcelo, 456 U.S. at 312.

We are unconvinced the class members demonstrated that

they would necessarily suffer harm without this injunction. To

be sure, the evidence of flaws in Interior’s IT security is

extensive. The penetration testing demonstrated that an individual with the requisite skills and resources could gain access to

many of Interior’s systems. We are not so naïve as to deny the

possibility that such an individual may indeed hack into Interior’s systems and even alter IITD, especially given that the

spotlight of this litigation may make Interior’s systems an

inviting target. Similarly, a disgruntled employee, contractor, or

Tribe member could choose to use legitimate access to Interior’s

networks for malicious purposes, taking advantage of the

connections between different systems to do widespread damage

to trust data.

Yet such concerns, though quite plausible, lack the specificity needed to justify injunctive relief, especially given the

magnitude of the harm that this injunction would cause Interior.

The class members have pointed to no evidence showing that
27

anyone has already altered IITD by taking advantage of Interior’s security flaws, nor that such actions are imminent. Even

if someone did penetrate Interior’s systems and alter IITD, we

have been shown no reason to believe that the effects would

likely be so extensive as to prevent the class members from

receiving the accounting to which they are entitled.

We do not mean to understate the dangers of lax IT

security, but as the district court acknowledged, “it is generally

considered impossible to create a perfectly secure IT environment.” Cobell XVI, 394 F. Supp. 2d at 269. The inherently

imperfect nature of IT security means that if we granted

injunctive relief here, based only on Interior’s security vulnerabilities and not on a showing of some imminent threat or

specific reason to be concerned that IITD is a target, we would

essentially be justifying perpetual judicial oversight of Interior’s

computer systems. In order to return to normal operations,

Interior would be faced with the nearly impossible task of

ensuring that its systems have no exploitable weaknesses

whatsoever, rather than addressing a more specific danger to

IITD. Moreover, nearly any system administrator who maintains

data for private trusts could be in danger of facing similar claims

for relief, as only the unreachable goal of perfect security would

be sufficient to counter general fears of data tampering by

internal threats or external hackers. At the very least, something

more than a list of vulnerabilities is required to show that the

class members may be harmed, as the next consideration—the

harm faced by Interior—weighs so heavily against granting

injunctive relief.

The district court seemingly disregarded the harm an

injunction would cause to Interior and those depending on

Interior’s services. By focusing on the need for Interior to

improve its IT security, and arguing that disconnection would

“help to illuminate the pervasive problems that continue to
28

plague Interior’s IT security environment,” Cobell XVI, 394 F.

Supp. 2d at 275, the district court glossed over the immensity of

the disruption that would occur to Interior’s operations. The

district court’s order provides a process for determining which

of Interior’s IT systems house or provide access to trust data and

would therefore be subject to disconnection. Id. at 278. Because

we stayed the district court’s order pending this appeal, Cobell

v. Norton, No. 05-5388 (D.C. Cir. Dec. 9, 2005) (per curiam)

(unpublished order), that process was not completed; we

therefore cannot be certain which systems would be subject to

disconnection.

Despite this lack of certainty, we do not doubt that compliance with the injunction would cause significant hardship to

Interior. The district court defined IITD extremely broadly,

including not only land titles and IIM account data but all

records that indirectly relate to such data, as well as all past

communications with beneficiaries and all other information

ever used by Interior (or any other agency or contractor) “in

connection with the government’s [m]anagement of [i]ndividual

Indian [t]rust [a]ssets.” Cobell XVI, 394 F. Supp. 2d at 277.

Defined in this way, IITD encompasses far more information

than could reasonably be required to complete an accounting of

the IIM trust. Based on this overbroad definition, the district

court found that IITD was “pervasive . . . in virtually every

Interior bureau or office.” Cobell XVI, 394 F. Supp. 2d at 258.

It is probable, therefore, that a very high percentage of Interior’s

IT systems would be subject to disconnection, with serious

consequences.

Interior’s Chief Information Officer (CIO) explained that

many of Interior’s functions would be hindered by the disconnection of the computers in question. For example, he stated that

the Minerals Management Service relies heavily on automated

systems and access to the internet in order to receive, process,
29

and disburse mineral revenues from federal and Indian leased

lands. He stated that disconnection “will prevent or hinder MMS

from being able to make timely monthly disbursements of over

$500 million in mineral revenues to States, Indians, and Treasury accounts.” Former Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton

herself stated that Interior cannot “conduct its activities properly

. . . without access to the Internet.” The district court acknowledged that “compliance with the Court’s order will likely . . . be

difficult,” id. at 275, yet it made no effort to address the specific

ways in which its order would interfere with Interior’s operations. We also cannot find any support whatsoever for the

district court’s belief that merely allowing Interior to reconnect

its computers for five days per month would be sufficient to

avoid serious harm.

Finally, we are dubious that the public interest would

benefit from an injunction, despite the district court’s one-sided

analysis of this issue. The district court stated that the interests

of “Interior’s other customers . . . are best protected if Interior’s

IT systems are adequately secure.” Id. at 275. However, the

question of what level of security would be “adequate[]” for

non-trust purposes was most decidedly not before the district

court. Additionally, although “[e]very citizen of this country has

an interest in seeing [the] government carry out its legal duties,”

id., Interior’s duties extend far beyond the administration of

these trust accounts. Would the public interest be served more

fully by allowing Interior to continue its normal operations

while improving IT security, or, as the district court implies, by

ordering disconnection and forcing Interior to find alternate

methods of completing some tasks without network access? The

district court assumed that disconnection would create a net

benefit, but it failed to explain its logic in arriving at this

conclusion—and in light of the far-reaching effects this order

would have on Interior’s operations, we are skeptical that the

district court could provide such an explanation.
30

We therefore conclude that the district court’s order cannot

stand. The overbroad definition of IITD used in the order makes

clear that the order was not tailored to protect the integrity of the

specific data Interior will need to perform an accounting. While

the class members may face some risk of harm if IITD housed

on Interior’s computers were compromised, we have not been

shown that this possibility is likely, nor that it would substantially harm the class members’ ability to receive an accounting.

We are confident that the harm Interior would immediately face

upon complying with the disconnection order outweighs the

class members’ need for an injunction. We also believe that the

public interest would not be furthered by hobbling Interior’s

ability to use its IT systems. While the class members’ entitlement to an accounting is not in doubt, the equities and harms

involved in this case do not, on balance, justify requiring Interior

to take such a drastic step.

If the district court conducts any further proceedings

directed at providing equitable relief in the area of Interior’s IT

security, it must keep in mind the balance between administrative and trust law that we explained in Part II, supra. A court

cannot order programmatic supervision of an agency’s operations, nor can it displace an agency as the actor with primary

responsibility for carrying out a statutory mandate by prescribing “particular tasks for Interior to perform based on policies

developed by the district court.” Cobell XII, 391 F.3d at 258.

VI

Due to the significant harm that this injunction would cause

to Interior and the paucity of evidence that the class members’

right to an accounting would be harmed without injunctive

relief, we vacate the district court’s order.

So ordered.