Air Force Enlists ACFE

Higher-education fraud examination programs are finding novel partnerships as they train working and budding fraud examiners. For example, the U.S. Air Force has enlisted the services of Saint Xavier University and the Chicago Police Department to educate Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) agents. This fall, special agents began enrolling in the Saint Xavier University Master's in Business Administration in Financial Fraud Examination and Management Program offered at the Chicago Police Academy.

As detailed in an earlier Fraud EDge column (July/August 2006), the Saint Xavier University (SXU) Graham School of Management developed a fraud examination MBA program in cooperation with the Chicago Police Department Financial Crimes Investigations Unit. (Initially offered only to members of law enforcement at the Chicago Police Academy, the program is now open to all interested students at the SXU Chicago campus.)

OSI is a field operating agency of the Air Force under the purview of the Air Force Inspector General with more than 200 worldwide units. Each provides a full range of criminal, fraud, and force protection services to the Air Force. OSI employs more than 2,500 people around the globe. More than 1,900 are credentialed special agents specializing in fraud investigations, forensic science, technical services, polygraph examination, computer crime, and foreign language and cultural studies.

Earlier this year, OSI Special Agent Captain Robert Smolich, CFE, the base-level fraud program manager for Headquarters OSI, contacted Wendi Williams, program manager for the ACFE Anti-Fraud Education Partnership, about master's degree programs for OSI agents involved in fraud examinations. Williams supplied him with several options including the SXU program.

"OSI recognizes the importance of professional certification," said Smolich, noting that the U.S. Department of Defense and the FBI recently recognized the CFE designation as a "critical skill set" when hiring future agents. He said OSI was looking for a graduate program "with a business emphasis that focused on the skills deemed necessary by the ACFE: a foundation in fraud theory, the ability to conduct fraud investigations, an understanding of fraud-related laws and an understanding of financial transactions and fraud schemes."

Five OSI Special Agents - all felony-level criminal investigators in the U.S. Air Force - are now enrolled in the SXU program at the Chicago Police Academy. Each fall, a new cohort of OSI agents will enroll. During the 18-month curriculum, the OSI agents will complete the core MBA courses, along with the four financial fraud examination concentration courses. After graduating, the students will sit for the CFE Exam.
Smolich said the SXU fraud examination MBA program is exactly what the Air Force wanted. "In addition to receiving a top-notch, fraud-focused education, our agents will be working with members of the Chicago Police Department, including members of their Financial Crimes Investigations Unit," he said. "This unique blending of education and real-world experience can only further hone the investigative skill sets of our OSI agents."
In August, Saint Xavier University welcomed Col. Karen Esaias, OSI's vice commander. During her visit, Esaias met with officials of both SXU and the Chicago Police Depart-ment including SXU President Judith Dwyer, Graham School Dean John Eber, Chicago Police Superintendent Phil Cline, and Chicago Police Academy Commander Matt Tobias.

During a special breakfast meeting of the SXU President's Cabinet and Dean's Council, Esaias described the OSI's anti-fraud mission. She said the OSI has five mission priorities: 1) develop and retain a force capable of meeting Air Force needs, 2) detect and provide early warning of worldwide threats to the Air Force, 3) identify and resolve crime that threatens Air Force readiness or good order and discipline, 4) combat threats to information systems and technologies, and 5) detect and defeat fraud impacting Air Force acquisitions and base-level capabilities.

Esaias said the OSI's anti-fraud priorities are product substitution, public corruption, and false claims. "Product substitution is by far the most imminent threat to the Air Force," she said. "It not only encompasses the majority of acquisition dollars, but it also presents an immediate threat to the safety of our airmen and the ability of the Air Force to accomplish its mission.

"Corruption of the procurement process erodes the Air Force's ability to acquire the best product or service for the best price. In addition, public corruption diminishes the integrity of the Air Force Acquisitions System resulting in the loss of millions of taxpayer dollars and the delay in delivery of critical weapons systems that enhance the warfighters' ability to accomplish their mission," she said. The OSI's successful investigation and prosecution of Darleen Druyun, Michael Sears, and the Boeing Corporation (featured in "Acquisition Fraudster: Lessons Learned from Darlene Druyen," by Colin May, CFE, in the May/June 2006 issue of Fraud Magazine), returned $615 million dollars to the U.S. Treasury, Esaias said.

According to Esaias, that OSI's third fraud priority focuses on a key concern of government contracts - false claims presented by contractors or Air Force and civilian personnel for services rendered and materials delivered.

"As technology continues to grow, economic crimes are becoming more sophisticated and the individuals who perpetrate those crimes are becoming increasingly adept," she said. "Therefore it is imperative that our investigators acquire the requisite skill set and knowledge needed to deter, detect, and defeat fraud committed against the United States Air Force."

"Deterring, detecting, and defeating fraud," said Smolich, "is more important today than ever before in our history. Especially in a time of war, when the Air Force receives a substituted product or there is corruption within the acquisition process, it inhibits our ability to provide the warfighter with the tools he or she needs to carry out the Air Force's mission. In addition, every dollar we recover is a taxpayer dollar that goes back to the U.S. Treasury."

The U.S. Air Force's decision to send its special agents to the SXU MBA financial fraud examination program is further evidence of the continued advancement of fraud examination as a recognized academic discipline.

Please let me know of other unique arrangements in higher-education fraud examination programs.

William J. Kresse, J.D., M.S., CFE, CPA, is assistant professor in the Graham School of Management at Saint Xavier University in Chicago, Ill.