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An investigation into the controversial cancellation of a Federal Aviation Administration certification program intended to retest aircraft mechanics who received certificates under fraudulent conditions, was declared satisfactory, but the Office of Special Counsel said questions remain.

OSC detailed whistleblower complaints made by longtime employees that officials in FAA's Southern Region Flight Standards Division canceled a program intended to re-certify mechanics lacking proper credentials and failed to adequately staff the unit assigned to managing the certifications in Orlando, Fla.

A Transportation Department Office of Inspector General investigation partially substantiated whistleblower allegations, but OSC said in its report that concerns remain that the re-examination project has not been completed.

The questionable mechanic certifications were issued by St. George Aviation, a company contracted to certify airline mechanics for airframe and power plant work. About 2,000 mechanics were certified under fraudulent conditions, which included issuing certifications to people who did not sit for examinations. The president and an employee of St. George were convicted in 1999 of fraud and conspiracy for the mismanagement of the program.

A program established to re-certify mechanics given certifications by St. George was canceled after 130 mechanics were re-examined because, according to FAA, its regional counsel believed it was "merely speculation" that the 1,200-plus mechanics were not properly tested. According to FAA's regional air safety office, the pass rate for the re-examined mechanics was 79 percent and there was no evidence that the public was at risk.

The whistleblowers -- Gabriel D. Bruno, former manager of the Orlando Flight Standards District Office, and Dorvin Hagen, former supervisory safety inspector in the Orlando Flight Standards District Office -- maintain that the program's cancellation and the agency's failure to fully staff their office was "gross mismanagement" and created a considerable danger to the public.

Bruno and Hagen have since been dismissed by FAA from the Orlando Flight Standards District Office and both told Government Executive they were not entirely pleased with the OSC report.

"I want to respectfully disagree with them on part of the report," said Bruno, who worked with FAA for 24 years. "I think it was a deliberate act on [the agency's] part" to keep the Orlando office understaffed.

Hagen, who spent 29 years with FAA, said the experience has left him physically exhausted and emotionally scarred.

"It's cost me my health and it's cost me my career," Hagen said. "However, as a responsible FAA employee, I had to."

After the Transportation Department inspector general found that the re-certification program was shut down improperly, FAA had begun to take steps to re-examine all mechanics who were certified by St. George, going back to May 1995. A legal challenge by certificate holders was filed in the U.S. District Court of the Middle District of Florida, which issued an injunction stopping the re-examination.

Bruno said hundreds of mechanics certified under the fraudulent St. George's program are now working for dozens of airline companies and for FAA.

The OSC report on the Transportation IG's investigation ends OSC's involvement in the issue. In a letter to President Bush, Special Counsel Scott Bloch said while the agency's reports were adequate by legal standards, he is concerned that the re-examination process has been interrupted by the district court.

Bribing for Work

An immigration officer in the Homeland Security Department's Citizenship and Immigration Services bureau was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison earlier this month after pleading guilty to accepting more than $4,000 in bribes, according to the Justice Department.

Nancy Stephenson, 56, pleaded guilty to bribery and fraudulently issuing work permits and was sentenced June 1 by U.S. District Judge Gary L. Taylor in Santa Ana, Calif.

A San Juan Capistrano, Calif., resident, Stephenson was authorized to adjudicate employment-based immigration petitions, but was not authorized to approve work permit applications, according to the Justice Department.

Starting in March 2002, Stephenson began approving work permits despite lacking the authority. A coded stamp issued to Stephenson allowed CIS officials to trace the unauthorized permits back to her.

In many of the cases, the agency, the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, would request more evidence on immigrants seeking work permits and Stephenson would note on agency computers that the evidence was received, when in fact it was not.

Stephenson then would indicate in INS records that the application had been approved and the work permit would be sent to the immigrant. She admitted to doing this as many as 99 times for members of the Samoan and Filipino communities in Southern California.

Stephenson and others working with her received up to $4,000 in this scheme. Her co-defendants, Loreta Mose, 49, of Long Beach, Calif., and Orlando Cariaga, 51, of Cerritos, Calif., also pled guilty to helping Stephenson by recruiting applicants.

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