A six-month investigation of public records and publishers reveals that Albright College President Henry Zimon may have falsified his resume and grossly misrepresented and exaggerated his background to the faculty and the presidential search committee.

1. In his resume, Colonel Zimon claims he is publishing a book titled CFE: The Making of the Treaty and Its Implications for the Future with former CIA Director Ambassador R. James Woolsey. Colonel Zimon repeated that claim at his meeting with the faculty in February and he further added that part of the manuscript has already been written. I have spoken with Ambassador Woolsey, who told me that the book is "news to me… I don't know anything about the book … I have no commitment to do any such book… This must be garbled up or something." Colonel Zimon has insisted to me repeatedly that Colonel Woolsey is collaborating with him on the book and that Ambassador Woolsey would attest to that fact. On quite the contrary, Ambassador Woolsey denies any association with the book. Mr. Woolsey can be reached at 202-828-2056.

2. Colonel Zimon's resume claims a second book titled Reshaping U.S. National Security Strategy: Peacetime Engagement, Regional Stability and Global Security, to be published by Praeger in 1998-1999. Praeger Publisher Peter Kracht has advised me that Praeger is not publishing the book. I have also talked to Mr. John Harney, a freelance acquisitions editor for Praeger, who Colonel Zimon claimed is his editor after he was told that Praeger is denying that it is publishing his book. Mr. Harney says he knows nothing about the book. Pressed on the subject at the September faculty meeting, Colonel Zimon insisted that he has a written contract from Praeger, albeit one which he is now trying to get out of. Colonel Zimon has failed to produce the contract for seven months. For months he asserted that the contract had been packed in preparation for his move to Albright. He even hid behind the war in Kosovo, saying that he had no time to address these issues, but that he would do so as soon as he came to campus. Now he pleads that he has not had an opportunity to open the boxes in which his contract is allegedly packed. It is hard not to come to the conclusion that something is remiss here that requires more than Colonel Zimon's verbal assurance that he has a contract. Both Praeger and Mr. Harney have looked at their files and confirmed that they are not publishing his book and even assert that they have never heard of Colonel Zimon. Mr. Kracht can be contacted at 203-226-3571 and Mr. Harney at 508-359-8787.

3. Colonel Zimon's resume claims that he had financial oversight of $60 billion of the U.S. army budget, which included, he told a faculty meeting in February, sole signature authority on army checks, including one, he said, for $428 million. I filed a Freedom of Information request with the army and in its response the army has reported that "Colonel Zimon has signed no government checks." I met with Colonel Zimon twice, first on Aug. 11 and again on Sept. 13. I found his explanations on most of the issues I have raised unsatisfactory. He now admits that he never signed army checks, which is totally contrary to what he stated to the faculty in February. Indeed, at that meeting he had drawn comparisons with his personal checkbook and even waxed about the number of zeroes he had entered the day earlier on a check in the hundreds of millions of dollars. His new explanation is that he approves the OPS Form 61, which constitutes authorizations for checks. Indeed, he told me that he had signed hundreds of these forms. In fact, the army has told me, that the OPS Form 61 is not a check authorization at all, but is instead a routine general document summary cover sheet. Indeed, I understand that neither the Office of Operations and Plans nor Colonel Zimon have financial responsibilities that involve checks in any way, shape or form. Nevertheless, I requested copies of the OPS Form 61s signed by Colonel Zimon under the FOIA, and have been advised that there are no such documents.

4. Colonel Zimon claims in his resume that he had oversight responsibility of the army's educational system. At a public faculty meeting during the search he stressed the very significant character of those responsibilities, that included, he asserted, authoring the army's annual strategic educational review. But in response to an FOI request I filed with the army, I have been informed that "No official documents were authored or co-authored by Colonel Zimon" relating to the army's university or educational system. In my meeting with him, Colonel Zimon claims that such documents exist, but that the army does not provide all documents under the FOI. That is simply not accurate as FOI rules obligate the army to produce all documents pursuant to a request, unless the documents are exempt under national security, which is not being asserted by the army here.

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