Degrees of deception

• Jimmy Shirl Parker, CIO of the Federal Technology Service in the General Services Administration (see related story, "Agency knew of CIO's unaccredited degree")


• A board member of the National Science Foundation;


• A contract IT professional in the Office of Naval Intelligence;


• A Transportation Security Administration official responsible for screening applicants for employment as airline baggage inspectors;


• A NASA contract employee responsible for safety engineering;


• A biostatistician in a military medical organization;


• A former director of a Pentagon agency;


• An IT manager with the Federal Reserve Board.

CONGRESS INVESTIGATES

In January 2001, undercover investigators with the GAO went about setting up a fake British university, including Web sites, telephone numbers, a phony course catalog and false financial statements. Based on this and other information, the fictitious school was able to sign up as a participating school in the Department of Education's Federal Family Education Loan Program.

For almost 18 months, GAO investigators carried out the ruse, going so far as to create three nonexistent students who applied for student loans through the Education Department loan program. Two of three lenders approved loans totaling $55,000.

This is just one of two investigations the GAO undertook at the request of Sen. Collins in the last two years. In the other, conducted throughout 2002, investigators demonstrated the ease with which they could purchase credentials claiming advanced degrees from diploma mills over the Internet.

On the House side of Capitol Hill, Davis has been pressing for more information about the Callahan matter. According to Davis, OPM told the Labor Department that Callahan had received academic degrees from an alleged diploma mill, but the department took no action.

Davis has asked for a full report from Clark Kent Ervin, Homeland Security inspector general, who is investigating the issue.

In a separate request to GAO, Davis also asked the auditing agency to investigate how federal agencies ensure employees who have been promoted on the strength of their educational credentials actually earned their degrees from legitimate institutions, referring to reports that Callahan "may have advanced her career using credentials obtained from a so-called diploma mill that awards advanced degrees for little or no work."

Collins, who has asked the GAO to examine the extent to which federal employees use credentials from diploma mills, and Davis are waiting to see what these additional investigations reveal before deciding on their next steps.

COST OF INFLATION

"Nobody can be satisfied with having a federal employee who is selected on the basis of having a degree that is, in fact, not a real degree," said Max Stier, president and chief executive officer of the Partnership for Public Service. "One of the things to recognize here is that the federal government requires, when a degree is a requirement of a job, that the degree be from an accredited institution."

Stier said the issue of inflated credentials should be studied carefully before any further regulatory or legislative measures are adopted to control the problem.

"It may just require additional diligence by agencies that do background checks or additional education of managers," he said.

Steve Nelson, director of the office of policy and evaluation for the Merit Systems Protection Board, oversees a unit that conducts studies of federal personnel practices.

Claiming to have a degree from an unaccredited school "is lying on your application," Nelson said. "It is like saying you have been working for IBM whereas in fact you have been working for Integrated Ballistic Missile."

Doing so could be grounds for a personnel action that would be taken on a case-by-case basis, Nelson said, and could include "a small form of discipline or removal."

Education may not be the best method of determining if an applicant is qualified for a federal job, Nelson said. "Competencies are a better way to determine qualifications," he said.

He added that OPM qualification guidelines, which require that any degrees claimed by an applicant be obtained from an accredited institution, do provide for applicants to substitute experience for education.

Nelson thought additional regulation or legislation in this area is not needed; credential inflation "is not a frequent problem," he said.

However, Tom Goodwin, president of Goodwin & Co., a management recruiting firm in Washington, said he has seen a significant number of people try to bolster their resumes with degrees from unaccredited programs.

"I have no idea how many people inflate their resumes [and] never get caught," Goodwin said. "I don't know if it's one in 10 or two in 10. I can't put a number on it, but I see it a lot. ... There are some fairly serious attempts to make one seem different than the truth."

Inflating one's credentials by using degrees from diploma mills adds all kinds of costs to employers, he said.

"It means they have to go hire somebody new. It means they put time into training the person. There's the opportunity cost. There's the credibility issue. If that kind of information gets out to [customers], it makes you look bad," Goodwin said.

Staff Writers Patience Wait and Wilson Dizard can be reached at pwait@postnewsweektech.com and wdizard@postnewsweektech.com.
Jimmy Shirl Parker was named chief information officer for the Federal Technology Service, one part of the General Services Administration, in 2000. The position is part of the Senior Executive Service, and he holds a security clearance.

Parker came to FTS after an 11-year Army career, including an honorable discharge as a sergeant first class in 1983, 15 years with the Field Artillery School at Fort Sill, Okla., and just under two years with the Corps of Engineers, where he was information management director for the southwestern division.

While serving as senior technical director and chief of tactical data systems at Fort Hood, Texas, according to his resume, Parker received a bachelor's of science degree in management in 1989, and a master's of business administration degree in 1991. Both are from California Coast University, an unaccredited school in Santa Ana, Calif., licensed by the Bureau of Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education, a unit of the state's Consumer Affairs Department, not the Education Department.

In July 2001, the GSA's Inspector General's Office was notified that Parker's degrees were not from an accredited institution.

The complainant, a GSA employee passed over for the CIO job, said a high-ranking FTS official told him that Parker "had an MBA and brought a broader range of experience to the job."

But the inspector general responded to the complaint by saying "there were no degree requirements listed" among the qualifications for the CIO's position.

When asked about Parker's academic credentials in June, a GSA spokeswoman replied in writing: "Jimmy Parker was hired as [CIO] for the [FTS], a Senior Executive Service... position, based on prior job experience and high technical qualifications. The qualification requirements for the position were outlined in the vacancy announcement -- qualifications which he met. There were no prescribed education or degree requirements outlined in the vacancy announcement. Mr. Parker was selected for this position after careful review of the full breadth of his experience and background."

A GSA spokeswoman declined to make Parker available for an interview, saying, "We're simply resting on the statement."