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

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

[longshadow]

I would suggest that the facts indicate that she has knowingly, and willingly, submitted fraudulent information for entry into her personnel file, openly and continually misrepresented her qualifications, and falsified public records. [emphasis added]

Does anything that follows sound familiar?

"It is also possible, according to some of the two dozen people interviewed by Time who know Livingstone, that the security director's love of intrigue and need for acceptance may have led him into waters too deep for his skills. (Fellow advance men used to call him Craig Flintstone.) A former restaurant bouncer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Livingstone apparently inflated his work history. He said he was the public-relations man for an Atlantic City casino, but that job requires a license, which, according to the Casino Control Commission, he never obtained. Working as a gofer and advance man for Democratic campaigns in the 1980s--it was on the 1984 Hart campaign that he met ex-cop Marceca--he became known as a teller of tall tales, often turning his bit parts into leading roles. In 1986, after working on Colorado Representative Tim Wirth's successful Senate bid, Livingstone landed a job he was happy to call "director of transition." The job consisted of moving furniture and boxes from Wirth's old office to the new one." [emphasis added]

source: http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/analysis/time/9606/24/pooley.shtml

Isn't that interesting; two Clinton WH appointees, both from Pittsburgh, and both with a proclivity (it seems) for padding their resumes.

What an amazing coincidence.....

[longshadow]

substantial new material of interest has been added to this old thread....\

enjoy....

[Think300]

The idea that this could be coincidental is what make so many people look again. Laura Callahan and her minor league cronies were mere pawns in the big game. They are all guilty of something. In this case it is fraud and misrepresentation.

I spoke with a colleague of mine and she indicated that there is an active investigation still in progress. She declined to comment any further due to this fact.

It would seem to me that the 60 minutes appearance could prove to be her Waterloo. Unless she plays it very well, and the people at CBS decide to be lazy about their investigation.

With all due respect to the people and their opinions posted on this site, I feel we could still see some sort of charges brought into play concerning the fraudulent credentials, as well as, and most importantly, the intentionally mis-leading, and out right false statements she made to congress.

Her inflated work history, and that of others in this same situation are symptomatic of the greater problem. These people lack the morals necessary to serve the American Public. I would suggest that with most, as with Laura Callahan, you would find a life long history of this type of short cutting and easy route taking behavior.

I, for one, am not ready or willing to accept that type of behavior coming from our elected officials, their appointees, or government personnel who are employed to serve the people of the United States. I beleive that an in depth investigation will prove that Laura Callahan was instrumental in eliminating e-mail messages that would have proven very harmful to the Clinton administration, and that she threatened people with prison to keep the Project X, "glitch" quiet. Additionally, the fact that she committed perjury and fraud will come to light again. Only this time it will be so obvious that no one will be able to turn away this time. Her decision to proceed with 60 minutes is proof of her arrogance, and her complete denial of any wrong doing. I woud be more willing to grant some latitude concerning this had there not been so many other people, co-workers, and direct reports alike that brought this out in the past. Yet she continued to move onward as if she had never done anything wrong. That arrogance could very well prove to be the final straw for the investigators. It is amazing how she has no friends or protectors left. Not a single person has come to the front to say anything on her behalf. Not a single member of the executive branch has come to her defense. It appears that she made her self a partisan public servant in Pgh. In this case she chose the wrong party and has been left out in the cold.

[bvw]

NJ's Edison is a state-entity that is like a correspondence school. Gives many credits for "life experience" iirc.

[bvw]

Thomas Edison is NOT a "community college". They specialize in "distance learning" where that learning is customised to account for, to credit, adult life-experience.

Here is their "About Us":

n 1972, Thomas Edison State College was created by the state of New Jersey to develop flexible, high-quality educational opportunities for adults. The College originated from the idea that the college-level knowledge adults gain outside the classroom could be measured and applied toward an academic degree.

Today, Thomas Edison State College is one of New Jersey's 12 senior public institutions of higher education. The College offers 15 associate, baccalaureate and master's degrees in more than 100 areas of study to students in every state in the United States and more than 80 countries around the world. Students earn degrees through a variety of rigorous academic methods, including completing independent study courses and documenting college-level knowledge they already have. Identified by Forbes magazine as one of the top 20 colleges and universities in the nation in the use of technology to create learning opportunities for adults, Thomas Edison State College is a national leader in the assessment of adult learning and a pioneer in the use of educational technologies.

See http://www.tesc.edu/aboutus/mission.php

[longshadow]

Thomas Edison is NOT a "community college". They specialize in "distance learning" where that learning is customised to account for, to credit, adult life-experience.

Excellent catch! Any idea if it is accreditted?

Note also the amazingly coincidental similarity between Craig Livingstone's academic background and Crabtree/Callahan's: BOTH attended, but did not graduate from "normal" colleges" -- Crabtree apparently went through three different schools without getting a degree, while Livingstone attended Indiana University of Pennsylvanis, but did not graduate. Livingstone instead gets a degree from "Regent's College" in Albany, NY (now called "Excelsior College" it, too is distance learning school, but does appear to be accreditted) while Crabtree gets an Associates degree from a "Distance Learning" School in NJ, and then follows that up with her three bogus degrees from the diploma mill "Hamilton Unversity."

Gee, if I didn't know better, I'd think these two people were reading from the same script.....

Makes you wonder.....hmmmmmmmmmm!

[longshadow]

It is amazing how she has no friends or protectors left. Not a single person has come to the front to say anything on her behalf.

Hmmmm, I'd venture to say Hillary has a vested interest in seeing to it that Crabtree/Callahan doesn't get hung out to dry, or else Hillary might just be the one out on a limb with no one covering her backside.....

[Think300]

I don't think Hillary would step in this late in the game. I would think that the only route for anyone connected to Laura Callahan would be to create a significant amount of distance between them and her. Any attempts to support or vindicate Callahan now would only serve to draw unwanted attention.

Laura Callahan has expressed feelings of, "being left out in the cold," by her former employers. I take that as she feels betrayed. Those feelings of betrayal could be the impetus for her wanting to tell, "the truth." At least her version of it.

If there is a direct connection between Laura Callahan and some type of a Machiavellian cover up, she would be wise to remain quiet. However, since she has not exercised good judgment in the past we may still get to see an attempt to clear her name through the exposure of, and misdirection to, a greater crime than her fraudulent and perjurous activities.

What remains to be seen is if she drags Livingstone into this. He appears to have separated himself very well for some one operating from the same play book. I absolutely agree that Callahan and Livingstone have been developed using the same script. In some cases the similarities are so close as to make the most casual of observers wonder what is happening.

[longshadow]

bttt

[longshadow]

"60 Minutes II" just did the Hamilton University/Laura Callahan diploma mill story this evening.

I've seen some big-time bullshitters in my life, by Callahan was over the top: she portrayed herself as the poor victim of the evil diploma mill that duped her into paying dearly for her worthless degrees.

What a complete load of crap.... IMHO, she had been clearly coached by an attorney to play the victim, and I especially liked her line about her job not requiring a degree, and that she "left her diplomas at home." Why, you'd think she was just some naive, sweet innocent government bureaucrat who got suckered by the crafty folks at Hamilton U.....

How very Clintonian, Laura; the question isn't whether you physically left your diplomas "at home"; the question is did you put your worthless mail-order degrees any employment record, application, or resume you submitted to the government to obtain your position.

Needless to say, the braintrust at "60 Minutes II" (the same folks who earlier this year brought us the fabricated TANG memos regarding Bush's National Guard Service) didn't bother to mention that this is the SAME woman who was in charge of the E-mail-gate scandal at the Clinton WH, and who was accused by five Grumman Corp contract employees under her direction of threatening them with jail if they ever told anyone about the "missing" e-mails that hadn't been searched/turned over in response to subpoenas related to the various Clinton scandal investigations.

Investigative journalism, my ass......

[longshadow]

ping

[Steve Schulin]

Fast forward to 2011 - and she's back in the news -- this time for being hired at a new agency headquartered at Ft. Meade in Maryland, charged with preventing a cyberspace equivalent of Pearl Harbor. http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=323373