Congressional scrutiny of Homeland official steps up (Laura Callahan update)

Washington Technology ^ | June 6, 2003 | Patience Wait and Wilson P. Dizard III

[TankerKC]

Following news reports that a senior official at the Homeland Security Department appears to have obtained her academic degrees from an unaccredited diploma mill, several members of Congress are seeking to learn how background checks and security clearances failed to flag the questionable credentials.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., chairwoman of the Democratic Caucus’ Homeland Security task force, sent a letter June 4 to HSD secretary Tom Ridge asking for a full investigation.

[TankerKC]

Update from previous threads.

HSD official obtained Ph.D. from diploma mill

Senator calls on HSD to investigate official’s doctorate (Update)

[TankerKC]

Follow up PING!

[cincinnati65]

"all from Hamilton University."

Ruh-Roh.....busted!!

[TankerKC]

busted!!

I'd say so. I'm still interested to hear how she manages to do he job. There must be some level of competence. Then again, this IS government work. On another thread someone commented that Bill Gates doesn't have any degrees, but he certainly could be a CIO.

[TaxRelief]

How much is she being paid? Does anyone know?

Hey, anyone looking for a new career?
Here's a Business Idea: start a University rating system for employers.

[longshadow]

"And a spokesman for Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, said that his office sent a letter to the Office of Personnel Management concerning the issue, and that he has requested details on the Callahan matter from HSD. "

Ahhhhh; this is Burton's old Committee, the same one that Callahan (Crabtree) testified in front of in regard to the Clinton WH "e-mailgate" scandal. Maybe they've picked up the scent......

One wonders if her conspicuous failure to mention her bogus degrees while testifying under oath (as was reported in another thread -- she testified using her married name, Callahan, but only owned up to her Associates Degree in liberal arts, while not mentioning her bogus Bachelors and Masters degrees obtained in 1993 and 1995 under her maiden name "Crabtree" -- constitutes obstruction of justice or perjury by ommission.

If so, the Committee can compel testimony by granting her immunity for the obstruction/perjury charges in return for full and truthful testimony about what really happend in "e-mailgate" .... and who in the Clinton WH was behind it.

I'll bet the Clinton apparatchiks aren't sleeping well these days.

Note to Laura Callahan: avoid Ft. Marcy Park..........

[longshadow]

see #6

[decimon]

I'm still interested to hear how she manages to do he job. There must be some level of competence.

She may be ultra-competent or she may be just The Boss. I've worked for people who couldn't find either hand with both hands. But once they make management there is little to hold them back as the competence is in the underlings.

[harpseal]

Here's a Business Idea: start a University rating system for employers.

There are a number of accreditation boards and Barons already publishes a guide to the colleges and Univerities in the USA. However, most business do not check when they could do so for free.

[TaxRelief]

Here's a Business Idea: start a University rating system for employers.

There are a number of accreditation boards and Barons already publishes a guide to the colleges and Univerities in the USA. However, most business do not check when they could do so for free.

What's ironic is you could sell 'em the service with a great little brochure, and then you check Barrons and tell them the rating level of the specific degree. (But you charge a nice fee).

[harpseal]

What's ironic is you could sell 'em the service with a great little brochure, and then you check Barrons and tell them the rating level of the specific degree. (But you charge a nice fee).

Sounds good for someone if they can pull it off but there is no such source available for Indian and Chinese institutions and that is all some folks will consider.

[dljordan]

So what's the big deal? I'm an accredited clergyman from the Universal Life Church. I've got the diploma to prove it too. I printed it out myself!

[TaxRelief]

You could offshore the Indian and Chinese parts of your business and still collect a fee on top of that! This is really starting to look profitable.

[TaxRelief]

The diploma mills also provide transcripts and transcript verification services, so you have to figure out a way to do that part, too. But watch out, because pretty soon someone's gonna figure out there is money to be made by starting a "University Rating System Service" for employers.

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

I mentioned her and a link to the earlier thread on her in the outsourcing threads a couple days ago.
It was part of my concern about outsourcing being a National Security Risk. I pointed out that Homeland Security was going to need some extra e-mail reminders alerting them to this potential National Security risk CONSIDERING the kind of job they are doing JUST checking the background on their OWN people. And, a background check on a person who supposedly would understand how great a risk it is, having the sensitive and personal infomation of U.S. citizens (medical, financial, insurance and telecommunications) on databases that are now in the hands of foreigners in foreign countries. Because that is the IT stuff. The semiconductors, circuit boards, etc. are another immediate concern and I hope Homeland Security has just one person who can grasp that risk. The long-term risks of no longer having a large group of engineers who perform these tasks is a future issue that I wonder who will be capable of seeing.

Perhaps you missed how she was part of the e-mail scandal coverup? Another freeper dug-up the info and posted it with the first thread regarding her.

Her pay is undoubtedly ridicously high. The investigation on her may turn-up more interesting ties to the Clinton administration. I don't know why she is still on staff, except the Bush administration apparently kept on a lot of Clinton staff; unlike Hillary who nearly completely destroyed (for example) Billy Dale, who was working in the Travel Office, and in the way of Hillary's friends.

There already is a University rating system. I remember my eldest son looking at it. And there already is a dirt simple "Accredited" or not rating system. All 3 of DR. Laura's degrees are UNaccredited.

Our most brilliant minds are not and probably will not work for this new department, Homeland Security, it is not their inclination. They are working at JPL, NASA, etc. having graduated from CalTech or MIT. We also need some non-grad, less traditional ninja-level hackers; if we can find some who are also patriotic.

[TaxRelief]

Hackers can get information from most sources, so the real issue is the fact that databases are even available outside of the room that they are stored in. Prior to computing, personal information was accessed by a trip to a storehouse, where files were signed in and out and somebody had a key. When the records room was broken into, it was investigated.

I have always had a problem with networked arrangements, even back to the day when hacking was a sport rather than a crime.

[TankerKC]

Homeland Security official has bogus computer degrees

Callahan put on leave

[TaxRelief]

How much do you want to bet that her superiors knew they were bogus?

[TylerDare]

Everyone is really missing the real story here. Callahan took the fall for the missing emails at the Whitehouse and was quickly moved to DOL and promoted from a GS13 to SES and made the Deputy CIO. With the power she held I suspect she had those emails on a tape in some safety deposit box. All payback. She made terrible IT decisions at Labor but she could do no wrong due to her political connections. She also brought many other Whitehouse employees with her to DOL who were involved in the scandal. If any reporter ever gets of their butts and investigates this scandal they are going to find something much bigger than Watergate. If you think she devised this on her own your really mistaken.

[TylerDare]

Everyone at Labor knew her degrees were fake. There was nobody to do anything about it. It was common for employee's to email the link to Hamilton University to each other as they suddenly had to address her as Dr. Callahan.