Dubious Degrees

HEADNOTE

Lawmakers target 'diploma mills' and the federal managers who use them.

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Two senior lawmakers have asked the

General Accounting Office to extend its investigation of fake educational degrees to include Pentagon employees. Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, and House Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., have asked GAO to broaden an investigation of federal agencies that began last july.

The probe began after Linda Callahan, a senior director in the Homeland security Department's chief information officer's office, was put on paid leave over allegations that she had received her degrees from an organization in Wyoming that essentially sold diplomas and required little or no work.

Collins also has asked Education secretary Rod Paige to develop an authoritative, Web-based list of accredited degree-granting academic institutions to enable people to determine the legitimacy of a particular degree.