Federal investigator files false background check reports

March 4, 2011

Another investigator for the agency that conducts security background checks for 90 percent of federal employees has pleaded guilty to falsifying reports, according to the Washington Post. Thomas S. Fitzgerald, 48, a former special agent for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, is the seventh background investigator to be convicted since 2008 for falsifying security clearances, prosecutors said. Fitzgerald, of Crofton, could face up to 18 months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, prosecutors said.

“Background investigations are an important tool for safeguarding classified information and our national security,” said U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ronald C. Machen Jr. “These prosecutions demonstrate how seriously we take the integrity of the background investigation process”.

Apparently, Fitzgerald had intentionally misrepresented facts in more than twenty background investigations back in 2005 and 2006 – the results of which were used to determine whether candidates were suitable for positions that involved national security.

This is one of several cases prosecuted by the U.S. attorney for D.C. in the past three years involving false representations by background investigators and record checkers working on federal background investigations. Six background investigators and two record checkers previously were convicted.]]>

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