Nuclear agency managers among diploma mill users

National Nuclear Security Administration officials said Tuesday that the bogus degrees would not affect the managers' job status.

A General Accounting Office investigation has uncovered three National Nuclear Security Administration managers with top-level security clearances who received fraudulent degrees from diploma mills, schools that essentially sell degrees while requiring little or no academic work.

The NNSA, an Energy Department agency, is responsible for handling, maintaining and protecting the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile. NNSA officials have reviewed the situations of all three employees and determined "the conditions of employment did not rest on the education that they were claiming," NNSA spokesman Brian Wilkes told Government Executive. As a result, the revelations will not affect their job status.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chairwoman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, said Tuesday that revelations of fraudulent degrees cast doubt on the employees' technical qualifications and their integrity.

The NNSA employees work in the Office of Emergency Operations and have Q-level security clearances, an Energy Department standard which allows access to nuclear weapons information.

One of the employees paid $5,000 for a master's degree from a diploma mill in Louisiana known as LaSalle University in 1996. In an interview with the GAO, he referred to his degree as a "joke." The second NNSA employee received a bachelor's degree in 2000 from Chadwick University, an unaccredited institution. The GAO reported that the second employee had not received any legitimate postsecondary academic degrees. The third person received a doctoral degree in engineering administration in 1985 from Columbia Pacific University, an institution that was shut down in 1999 by a California judge for failing to meet academic requirements, awarding undue credit for life experience and failing to employ qualified staff members.

"They were people who had security clearances and who were in sensitive positions," said Robert Cramer, the managing director of GAO's Office of Special Investigations.

The revelations were part of a larger report (GAO-04-771T) unveiled Tuesday at a Governmental Affairs Committee hearing. It found that the federal government has paid at least $170,000 for "coursework" at California Coast University and Kennedy-Western University, two unaccredited schools that are widely believed to be diploma mills. Those two schools, along with Pacific Western University, provided information showing that 463 federal employees are enrolled in their courses. The Defense Department had the highest number, with 257 registered with the schools.

The initial investigation found that federal funding has been used to pay for at least 70 employees to enroll in diploma mills, according to Collins. GAO investigators said Tuesday that diploma-mill representatives tailor their billing to help employees gain reimbursement from the federal government.

GAO officials also asked eight agencies to review the personnel folders of employees with ranks of GS-15 or above, to determine if they had obtained degrees from a diploma mill. That review uncovered 28 employees with degrees from unaccredited schools, including the three NNSA employees and a Senior Executive Service employee at the Transportation Department. All specific personnel cases have been referred to the individual agencies, according to GAO.

The investigation was launched last year after Laura Callahan, a senior director in the office of the Homeland Security Department's chief information officer, was placed on paid administrative leave following allegations that her degrees came from a diploma mill in Wyoming. Callahan has resigned her position at DHS.

Because the GAO investigation involved only three diploma mills and eight federal agencies, the results are simply "a window" on what is probably a much larger problem, according to Cramer.

Collins agreed. "I believe this is only the tip of the iceberg," she said.

Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, urged federal officials to better define diploma mills for government hiring purposes. He also called on the Education Department to create a list of accredited and legitimate schools. Education Secretary Rod Paige has said his staff will develop such a list.

"This problem can be solved," Davis said. "Congress's job is to provide the oversight and, if necessary, the authority to solve it. Diploma mills will not go away. It is time to make an unequivocal statement that fake degrees have no place or value in the federal workplace."

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.