Dubious Degrees Affect Homeland Security
Summary: As Senate Hearings on the use of questionable educational credentials in government and industry convene Tuesday and Wednesday this week, some active and retired law enforcement officers with similar concerns are taking dramatic steps, including offering a $1000.00 reward, to uncover security risks in the law enforcement training community.
Frederick, MD (PRWEB) May 11, 2004 -- Philip Messina, a nationally known
police trainer and highly decorated retired New York City Police Sergeant, today
announced a $1,000 reward for information related to a specific "PhD degree"
from "La Salle University" of Mandeville, Louisiana, once described as "nothing
more than a sophisticated diploma mill" in testimony provided by Deputy
Assistant Attorney General Mary Lee Warren to the House Financial Services
Committee on April 20, 1999.
Messina, an elected corporate director of
American Society of Law Enforcement Trainers, Inc. ("ASLET"), a 501(c)(3)
charity based in Frederick, Maryland, is offering to donate $1,000 to the
favorite charity of the first party to provide a legally obtained, dated,
"doctoral degree" that "Mr. Frank A. Hackett, PhD" claimed to possess when he
interviewed for the position of Executive Director of ASLET in 1999. Hackett was
subsequently chosen for the position, besting 74 other candidates.
With
the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee hearings on “diploma mills” scheduled
for Tuesday and Wednesday (May 11th and 12th), Messina emphasized that Senate
and House leaders have been diligently working to investigate whether the use of
"diploma mill" degrees are a danger to homeland security.
Senate
Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Susan Collins (R-ME) has stated that
“postsecondary degrees are the keys to opening doors to the private sector job
market and to federal agencies.” House Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom
Davis (R-VA) has stated that "public trust in government is a key pillar of our
democracy. There is no place for diploma mill degree holders to work in our
government, especially when we are talking about homeland security. " An
investigation late last year, by a large Maryland county, resulted in the
removal (on his first day of work) of the county’s recently appointed Homeland
Security director, after he presented a “La Salle PhD” as part of his resume
submitted in support of his application for employment.
Although ASLET is
incorporated as a Delaware "non-profit" corporation, federal agencies have
provided government personnel and resources to teach at ASLET seminars, and
federal agents have provided agency and personal funds to ASLET in the form of
membership dues.
In a January 15, 2004 memo to the Education Department,
Senator Collins stated that "phony degrees devalue the legitimate credentials
earned by millions of individuals through hard work, persistence and
achievement. Such degrees also may pose security and other risks by helping
unqualified individuals secure sensitive positions, and that's a risk we can't
afford to take."
Messina and other career law enforcement officers and
investigators working alongside him have identified specific security risks at
ASLET that they believe endanger law enforcement officers and their agencies.
The receipt of the information sought, Messina believes, may quickly aid in
protecting law enforcement officers and agencies from unaffordable
risks.
Source and Media Contact: Elizabeth Kennedy: 631-226-8383
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/5/prweb125059.htm