DHS puts Callahan on leave

The Department of Homeland Security placed a senior official on paid administrative leave June 5 while officials continue to investigate reports that she got her academic degrees from a diploma mill in Wyoming.

"Laura Callahan has been placed on administrative leave. This is our standard practice and does not reflect that we have made any decision on this matter or serve as any indication of what our decision may be," said Michelle Petrovich, DHS Science & Technology Directorate spokeswoman.

Callahan, senior director in the office of DHS Chief Information Officer Steve Cooper, has claimed on her official resume to hold a bachelor's degree, a master's degree and a doctorate from Hamilton University. But that institution, in Evanston, Wyo., is not accredited by any organization officially recognized by the Department of Education, and Oregon has labeled it a diploma mill.

Petrovich said officials are still collecting facts and cannot put a time frame on when the investigation will be complete.

In related news, the Association for Federal Information Resources Management said June 10 that Callahan won't run for a second term as its president. Callahan asked for her name to be withdrawn from the ballot, leaving incoming vice president Scott Hastings, CIO of the bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement at DHS, the likely next president of AFFIRM. *