Last Updated on January 6, 2026
It’s been over six years since the Senate passed Savannah’s Act and the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women has continued to perpetuate — tragically, undeterred, and under-reported.
However, the tragic and woefully marginalized situation may have taken a stunning and hopeful turn — giving the jaded and shunned families and communities of victims some much-needed hope.
The situation of note is that the DOJ dropped a huge initiative for addressing ‘violent crimes’ in Indian Country via the aptly named: ‘Operation Not Forgotten’.
Operation Not Forgotten pledged to deploy no less than 60 FBI agents across various field offices with the goal of investigating unresolved violent crimes and specifically: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons, identified as MMIP.
This *is* the most expansive and resourceful deployment of FBI support to Indian Country…EVER.
And given the checkered history between the FBI and Indian Country — see Wounded Knee and Leonard Peltier — maybe this effort of cooperation can rebuild trust in a new era after eroded trust may have contributed to this state of marginalization on both sides.
This FBI investigative operation in Indian Country supposedly already has over 4,300 open investigations — 900 death investigations; 1,000 child abuse investigations; and, over 500 domestic violence and adult sexual abuse cases.
These are the types of cases that have remained invisible for years despite activists crying out for visibility and justice.
Currently, Operation Not Forgotten will consist of a legion of FBI agents assigned to 90 day cases over six month deployments. The agents will be stationed in 10 key field offices located in: Salt Lake City; Portland; Seattle; Oklahoma City; Phoenix; Minneapolis, Detroit; Jackson (Mississippi); Denver; and Albuquerque. They will be operating *in* partnership with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) *and* Tribal law enforcement.
The FBI initiative is organized to be working closely with Indian Country authorities to bring ‘long overdue justice’ to the long overlooked victims of these violent and atrocious crimes.
Working with support from the BIA, these coordinated efforts will have access to advanced forensic technologies for processing evidence and solving these cases.
They will also be focused on holding perpetrators accountable through close cooperation with U.S. Attorneys’ Offices to make sure cases are prosecuted ‘aggressively’ when referred by tribal authorities or the FBI.
New FBI Director Kash Patel has personally stated his strong support for Operation Not Forgotten and personally doubled down on the specific focus of seeking to locate missing individuals and related violent criminals.
This is certainly a step in the right direction. Perhaps now even, the era of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women can one day be talked about in the past tense as a traumatic bygone era like so many others our Native People have endured.
Across the world right now, Indigenous peoples are facing a renewed assault on their lands, rights, and ways of life.
From extractive industries pushing deeper into ancestral territories, to governments rolling back hard-won protections,
the threat is global—and it is growing.
What makes this moment especially dangerous is how little attention it receives.
Stories like this are disappearing in real time. Mainstream media
barely covers it and the coverage is fragmented. The public is left without the context
needed to understand what is truly at stake.
That is exactly why IC Magazine exists..
For more than 20 years, IC has reported on Indigenous struggles worldwide — consistently, independently, and without compromise.
We don’t follow news cycles; we trace patterns. We don’t sensationalize; we provide context.
And when the world looks away, we stay focused.
But this work is increasingly difficult to sustain.
We refuse to lock our reporting behind a paywall. We don’t sell access through subscriptions.
And we don’t answer to advertisers. IC Magazine survives solely because readers like you choose to
support independent Indigenous journalism.
Please donate today if you can. Every contribution helps us to continue this crucial work.
Thank you,
John Ahni Schertow
Founder and Editor in Chief
