Audit hits institute’s ex-boss

Saturday, Nov. 18, 2006 | 7:18 a.m.

The former executive director of the UNLV Research Foundation and its troubled Institute for Security Studies provided insufficient documentation for nearly $84,000 in travel and business meal expenses during his four years at the helm, a university system audit has found.

The audit's findings come two months after Tom Williams was reassigned at UNLV amid concerns about a lack of oversight at the foundation's secretive counterterrorism institute, which has failed to live up to its mission to transform UNLV into a leading academic authority on homeland security.

Williams contended that because the Research Foundation, a private fundraising arm of the university, received most of its money (more than $50 million) from Energy Department grants, he could follow less stringent federal guidelines in documenting his expenses.

But the 11-page audit, overseen by Sandra Cardinal, the Nevada System of Higher Education's top internal auditor, disagreed, saying that the Research Foundation needed to "provide greater detail" in its expense reports in keeping with the tougher university system guidelines.

Regent Steve Sisolak, who heads the Board of Regents' Audit Committee, which will hear Cardinal's recommendations Thursday, said he shared her opinion.

"This validates the concerns that were brought forward earlier that there is a lack of accountability here," Sisolak said. "We need to close the barn door right now and bring them back under our auspices and requirements."

The audit follows a critical UNLV audit two months ago that found the Institute for Security Studies lacked focus and management oversight.

Both audits are the result of a June 18 Sun story that disclosed that the institute, which received $8.9 million, mostly in federal money secured by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., has fallen short of several goals, including the objective of establishing a national reputation for UNLV on homeland security.

Days before the UNLV audit was made public Sept. 27, UNLV President David Ashley hired a new director to run the institute.

Scott Smith, a retired Army major general, told the Sun in an interview last month that he intended to work to clean up the institute and return it to its academic mission.

Smith has been putting together a long-term strategic plan that he hopes will provide the kind of direction the institute needs to become an integral part of the counterterrorism effort.

Williams no longer has anything to do with the institute's operations.

The university system audit found that Williams submitted 79 travel expense reports that totaled $72,663 over four years. Nearly half of his trips, according to records the foundation previously provided the Sun, were made to Washington.

Hotel and airfare expenses were "adequately documented," the audit said.

But the audit found that 52 meals charged to Williams' hotel bills did not contain details about what kind of food and beverages were consumed. About 70 of the 87 other meal receipts that Williams submitted also did not contain detailed information, the audit found.

The audit detected a similar lack of documentation in 183 of the 209 expense reports that Williams submitted for more than $11,000 in business meals in Las Vegas.

Forty-two of his meals in 2003 and 2004 did not describe the business purpose, the audit said.

"We recommend that the (Research Foundation) develop policies that would require complete detailed receipts of business meals," the audit said.

The foundation's new management pledged in the audit to do so in the future.

The security institute was placed under the direct control of UNLV in September and now follows university system guidelines that require such detailed accounts.