Homeland Security official suspended after credentials are questioned

A senior technology official at the Homeland Security Department is on administrative leave pending an investigation into her educational credentials, a department spokeswoman confirmed Friday.

On Thursday, the department placed Laura Callahan, a senior director in the chief information officer's office, on paid administrative leave following news that her degrees came from an alleged diploma mill in Wyoming. Such businesses offer college degrees for little or no course work.

Government Computer News first reported the story May 30.

"We are collecting the facts at this point," said Michelle Petrovich, spokeswoman for the Homeland Security Department's science and technology directorate. "Once we have all the facts, we will be able to verify what needs to be done beyond administrative leave."

Callahan left her position as deputy chief information officer at the Labor Department to join the Homeland Security Department in April 2003.

In response to the Callahan incident, House Government Reform Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., and Rep. Jo Ann Davis, R-Va., sent a letter to Office of Personnel Management Director Kay Coles James asking her to detail the safeguards in place to protect federal agencies from hiring employees who list fraudulent education and training on their resumes or curriculum vitaes. The letter also asked James to recommend such policies if they do not exist.

The two legislators gave James a June 20 deadline to respond to their inquiries. Phone calls placed Friday to OPM were not returned.