28 federal managers found to have fake college degrees

The Charlotte Observer ^ | May 12, 2004 | staff

[TaxRelief]

At least 28 senior-level federal employees in eight agencies have bogus college degrees, including three managers at the office that oversees nuclear weapons safety, congressional investigators have found.The problem is likely even bigger, mainly because the government has no uniform way to check whether employees' alma maters are diploma mills that require little, if any, academic work, the General Accounting Office reported. The names of the 28 senior-level workers have been forwarded to the offices of the inspectors general in their agencies for review. -- ASSOCIATED PRESS

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

Ref post #27.

You are correct. It is the lie I don't and never will tolerate.

[TaxRelief]

How does one get a fake degree?

Classes USA: Online degree programs
(The possibilities are endless, but none of them are free.)

[TaxRelief]

More info from http://www.news-leader.com/today/0512-Taxpayersf-85774.html:

According to the GAO report:

• Of 463 federal officials identified with bogus degrees, 257 are employed at the Department of Defense.

• The Energy Department had the second-largest number of employees with bogus degrees — 35. Next was the U.S. Postal Service, with 29, and the Department of Transportation, with 17. The report did not identify officials by name.

• Government officials who obtained bogus degrees included energy officials with "emergency operations responsibilities" and officials from the National Nuclear Security Administration with security clearances.

• GAO's inspector general reviewed its own employees and none was found to have fake degrees. "We're clean," said GAO spokesman Jeff Nelligan.

• A review of federal payments made to just two of 137 suspected diploma mills between July 2003 through February 2004 found that taxpayers paid $169,470 for fraudulent courses and degrees.

• Five of the diploma mills cited in the report took in at least $111 million in revenue between 1995 through 2000.

[Diverdogz]

Nothing that you wrote makes you guilty of anything :)

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

Ref post #27.

You are correct. It is the lie that I don't tolerate.

[lepton]

Quite true, but claiming to have one gets a person consideration in hiring that the candidate does not deserve.

That's open to debate. If one were to be completely honest, then one must concede that quite often the demand for a degree is a way of artificially limiting consideration, and does not actually correlate to those capable of doing a given job. One can reasonably consider that fraudulent as well. I think that lying on ones resume speaks quite ill of the person, and those who do should really compensate theier employer if it turns out that they are not capable of doing the job (yeah, that'll happen) - but on the other side of it, if they are capable, without the certificate, then what does "deserve" mean?

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

You are so kind; I love you. I so rarely get a compliment. I now think "go to hell" is a compliment on FR. Thank you.

[Bronco_Buster_FweetHyagh]

the government has no uniform way to check whether employees' alma maters are diploma mills that require little, if any, academic work,

Is it any wonder that our government screws up as much as it does? It can't even verify real schools, but it takes trillions from us in taxes? Morons.

[Angelwood]

Her name is Laura Callahan and the article stated that she had resigned her position in Homeland Security. I wonder where Ms. Callahan is now.

[muawiyah]

For all we know she's probably got a job with USPS where so many of her friends are located. Someone might check on that.

[KC_for_Freedom]

but on the other side of it, if they are capable, without the certificate, then what does "deserve" mean?

Yeah, and there are lots of ways a person gets a chance to prove they are truely capable. I simply would not recommend the phony degree approach. The flip side of the "deserve" arguement puts really inferior people in jobs where some HR flunky with a quota to fill decides some afirmative action candidate is "qualified". As though "qualified" means something like "the best candidate".

[KC_for_Freedom]

the degree requirement is nothing more than a culling device to cut the number of applicants

A degree can also be used to hand the job to an already selected applicant. But getting a degree takes a certain amount of time and effort, and the recipient has put in a certain amount of time gaining maturity and learning how to meet deadlines. If these are job requirements, I see no problem with a degree requirement. (But verify the degree if it is a requirement.)

[Diddle E. Squat]

I want party affiliations.

[Kackikat]

Thanks for info, I am "upset" to realize that someone approved the payment of gov't funds for these degrees. There needs to be a list of bonafide colleges, so that hiring only people with degrees from the ones on list are acceptable in governement agencies.

Any college receiving new accredidation should have to apply and show they are, in fact, eligible to be put on list. That would eliminate the need to research on an individual basis, which a lot of employers do not do. It could be on a website which civilian employers could use also, so they get qualified people.....maybe some companies might stay in business if right people are in charge.

Many taxpayer grants go to business who go into bankruptcy based on poor management...this is far reaching. I wonder how many people who got US Grants were attending bogus colleges, as many taxpayer dollars go for research grants?? That means that congressional decisions based on research could be misled...sounds scary doesn't it? What about all those "enviromental grants" that are used to determine where we should or should not look for oil, what are qualifications of those who determine what we do and where with environmental money????

[TaxRelief]

Angelwood, Do you know how can we get names? I want to know who these people are! Laura Callahan should want to know who these people are, too.

I'm guessing that many of the "degrees" were used for promotional purposes, which is possibly worse than being used for hiring purposes.

God forbid any of these fake degrees belong to nuclear engineers overseeing power plants.

[Kackikat]

OH, I forgot to ask, aren't we going to do something about the fraudulent use of taxpayer dollars, and what about prosecution of obtaining these jobs through fraud? Are the people responsible...did they know these universties/colleges were bogus, or were they attending in good faith? I think we need to hold someone responsible! Do you know if anything is going to be done??

[varon]

28 federal managers found to have fake college degrees

So, what's the big deal. There are thousands more in government service with degrees from accredited universities than know as little as the ones with the fake degrees. In either case, they haven't mastered the courses and the only difference between the two is length of time and amount of money it took to get the "sheepskin".

[TaxRelief]

Small link problem - Here you go:

http://www.news-leader.com/today/0512-Taxpayersf-85774.html

What can we do? We can elect new leaders. We probably can't sue the government. This situation is just a symptom of a much bigger problem.

I assume we can also do a FOIA request for specific department details and then demand accountability.

[muawiyah]

There are, in fact, high level executives in the US government who have degrees in elementary education or drama!

I can name names here, but I'm not going to.

Neither type of degree is relevant to the business of being an executive in the government, or anywhere else for that matter.

I would imagine that you'd like me to provide an assessment of these people ~ maybe something along the lines of "despite not having had an intellectually rigorous education they do well", but you would be wrong. I'd have to say that their careers have demonstrated the utility of sleeping with higher level executives and politicians.