The law also required the Secretary of the Smithsonian to prepare an inventory of all Indian and Native Hawaiian human remains and funerary objects in Smithsonian collections, as well as expeditiously return these items upon the request of culturally affiliated federally recognized Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations.

Of these, remains representing 5,435 individuals (29%) had been offered for repatriation to lineal descendants or culturally affiliated Indian tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations.

[3] In 2011, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) completed a study of the extent to which the Smithsonian had fulfilled the repatriation requirements of the NMAI Act.

[4] The GAO found that while the Smithsonian had inventoried, identified, and returned thousands of Indian human remains, at the current pace it may take decades more for it to complete the process.

The GAO suggested that Congress consider ways to expedite the process including, but not limited to, directing the Smithsonian to make cultural affiliation determinations as efficiently and effectively as possible.