Sheriff David Clarke Reportedly Plagiarized 47 Parts of his Homeland Security Master’s Thesis
Milwaukee County sheriff David Clarke reportedly plagiarized several parts of his 2013 master’s thesis on U.S. homeland security.
CNN’s KFILE found that there were at least 47 occasions where Clarke failed to attribute sources for the security studies thesis he wrote for the Naval Postgraduate School. Instead of using quotation marks to reference his sources, Clarke apparently lifted language from other media and credited them in footnotes.
According to the Naval Postgraduate School’s academic integrity guidelines, a lack of accurate quotation would constitute as plagiarism. CNN offered a side-by-side view of Clarke’s writings, where he seemed to paraphrase or lift entire sections from organizations that include the ACLU, Pew Research Center, Washington Post, and several other sources dealing with foreign intelligence and homeland security.
Turns out @SheriffClarke really liked to plagiarize from the @ACLU https://t.co/Fl2GcYeLLq pic.twitter.com/MLOrupVn3B
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) May 20, 2017
When CNN reached out for comment, Clarke tweeted out a prebuttal that made reference to other acts of plagiarism that were exposed by Andrew Kaczynski and his colleagues:
This @CNN hack @KFILE oppo research MO is to accuse plagiarism. I'm next. Did it to Rand Paul, Monica Crowley et al. https://t.co/KgoHKermpe
— David A. Clarke, Jr. (@SheriffClarke) May 20, 2017
Ample evidence of my previous tweet on @CNN political hack @KFILE. Guy is a sleaze bag. I'm on to him folks. https://t.co/D1kV8kg80G
— David A. Clarke, Jr. (@SheriffClarke) May 20, 2017
A spokesperson for the Naval Postgraduate School told CNN that they would launch a plagiarism review in light of the news. Blogger Adam Steinbach has noted that Clarke’s dissertation has been pulled from the school’s website:
@KFILE Clarke's thesis has now been removed by the Naval Postgraduate School. https://t.co/SBoXBgSBVN pic.twitter.com/AMf28FQZNe
— Adam Steinbaugh (@adamsteinbaugh) May 20, 2017
While it has not been confirmed yet, the sheriff told interviewers this week that he would soon be taking a job at the Department of Homeland Security. This comes after Clarke supported Trump’s presidential campaign while offering his usual bombastic rhetoric during regular appearances on Fox News.
[Image via screengrab]
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