The Arlington National Cemetery mismanagement controversy was an investigation by the United States Department of Defense into mismanagement, poor record-keeping, and other issues involving the burial and identification of U.S. servicemembers' graves at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. Questions were raised in 2008, and the scandal peaked in the spring of 2010.
Background Arlington National Cemetery is a military cemetery in the United States established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House. Veterans and military casualties from each of the nation's wars are interred in the cemetery, ranging from the Civil War through to the military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. More than 300,000 people are buried at Arlington National Cemetery, including veterans, their dependents, other casualties of war, two American presidents, famous sports legends, and various other dignitaries. About 125 burials occurred at Arlington each week in 2010.
Allegations of mismanagement at Arlington Cemetery were first raised in 2008. The widow of a United States Army soldier complained that the wrong headstone was on her husband's grave. A Pentagon investigation found that two servicemen had been buried in the same grave. Cemetery workers had also buried the cremated remains of a servicemember in a grave which was already in use, but unmarked. The cremation error was discovered in May 2008 and the remains buried in an unused grave. However, Arlington National Cemetery officials may not have followed proper procedures in notifying the servicemember's next of kin about the reburial.
In November 2009, having learned of the cremated individual's reburial, United States Secretary of the Army John M. McHugh ordered an investigation by the Inspector General of the Army. An article on Salon.com on July 16, 2009, began a year-long series of articles about problems at Arlington, which may have also prompted McHugh's actions.
A later The Washington Post investigation found that the cemetery's administration had been subject to numerous US Army investigations over 20 years, but were unable to resolve recurring concerns with the management of the cemetery. One source of the problems appears to have been that overall oversight of the cemetery was shared by too many authorities, including the Military District of Washington, the assistant secretary of the Army for civil works, the assistant secretary of the Army for manpower and reserve affairs, and the cemetery superintendent.Davis, Aaron C., and Michael E. Ruane, "At Arlington Cemetery, Years Of Problems", The Washington Post, July 26, 2010, p. 1.
In one case in 2004, the cemetery's budget director, Mr. Smith, questioned the contracts related to digitizing burial records. He warned an official from the Office of Management and Budget, which temporarily halted spending on the contract. Soon after, Smith said he was harassed by his superiors and eventually suspended for three days without pay. Smith successfully appealed the suspension through his employees' union and retired with full benefits in 2007.Davenport, Christian, "For Dover AFB mortuary whistleblowers, echoes of Arlington ", The Washington Post, 11 November 2011, p. 2.
Media access controversy and termination Until 2005, the cemetery's administration gave free access, with the family's permission, to the media to cover funerals at the cemetery. According to The Washington Post in July 2008, over the past several years the cemetery has gradually imposed increasing restrictions on media coverage of funerals.Milbank, Dana, "Putting Her Foot Down And Getting The Boot ", The Washington Post, July 10, 2008, p. 3.
After protesting the new restrictions on media representatives, Gina Gray, the cemetery's new public affairs director, was demoted and then fired on June 27, 2008, after only three months in the job. Days after Gray began working for the cemetery and soon after she had spoken to the media about the new restrictions, her supervisor, Phyllis White, began requiring Gray to notify White whenever she "left the building." On June 9, White changed Gray's title from Public Affairs Director to "Public Affairs Officer." A few days later, when Gray took sick leave, White disconnected Gray's email BlackBerry. In the termination memo, White stated that Gray had, "been disrespectful to me as your supervisor and failed to act in an inappropriate (sic) manner." Thurman Higginbotham, deputy director of the cemetery stated that Gray's release from employment, "had nothingabsolutely nothing to do withwith media issues."Blitzer, Wolf and Jamie McIntyre, "Former Official Says She Was Fired For Questioning Media Policy", The Situation Room, Cable News Network, July 11, 2008.
Secretary of the Army Pete Geren asked his staff to look into Gray's dismissal. Said Gray in response, "I am definitely encouraged by any investigation into the mismanagement at Arlington Cemetery."Tyson, Ann Scott, "Army Secretary Asks For Probe Of Firing" , The Washington Post, July 12, 2008. In July 2009 Gray filed suit against the US Army under the Freedom of Information Act, stating that the US Army had refused to publicly release its findings from the probe into Gray's dismissal. In the suit, Gray claims that the probe found that Higginbotham had lied to federal investigators and that someone had illegally accessed Gray's government email account and sent an email in her name. The investigation reportedly had found that when the email was accessed from a cemetery office computer, only two employees, Higginbotham and a contractor, were present in the building.Davis, Aaron C., "Arlington Cemetery's Deputy Chief Retires Amid Investigation", The Washington Post, July 14, 2010, p. B1.Conery, Ben, "Army reports on firing wanted in lawsuit ", Washington Times, July 18, 2009, p. 1. The U.S. Army stated that it had not received any complaints about the newer, more restrictive policies concerning media coverage of funerals. But CNN reported that some families have complained about not being able to decide for themselves on the level of media access allowed. Blitzer, Wolf and Jamie McIntyre, "Update On Media Coverage Of Military Funerals", The Situation Room, CNN, July 14, 2008.
Controversy
On June 10, 2010, a Department of Defense inspector general's report revealed that cemetery officials had placed the wrong headstones on tombs, buried coffins in shallow graves, and buried bodies on top of one another. According to the Associated Press, "[Army officials] said in some cases a grave marker was not placed soon enough after burial or records were not kept updated, resulting in uncertainty later about the identities of the deceased at some grave sites." In another case, laborers digging in what they thought was an empty grave discovered a coffin already there, and in another four burial urns had been unearthed and dumped in a landfill. Defense Department spokespersons said they were uncertain how many graves might be affected, as records were so sloppily maintained. A CBS News report said that as many as 200 graves might be affected. Army officials said that the mismanagement of graves and burials had gone on "for years".
The inspector general's report also accused cemetery officials of lying under oath and engaging in sexual harassment. Deputy cemetery superintendent Thurman Higgenbotham was accused of illegally hacking into a cemetery employee's personnel files. An Army Criminal Investigative Command investigation (completed in May 2009) concluded Higginbotham had also lied to investigators about accessing the employee's files. A report which investigated whether Higginbotham had fired a whistleblower has not yet been released. The report said cemetery officials were also negligent in continuing to use a paper filing system instead of a computerized database to keep track of cemetery operations. A new burial management system was to have been installed which would have "triple verified" burial records, but implementation of the system had lagged significantly.
The same day, Army Secretary McHugh relieved Arlington National Cemetery's superintendent, John C. Metzler, Jr., of his position but requested that he continue to oversee cemetery burials and other operations until his planned retirement on July 2, 2010. Higginbotham was placed on administrative leave. (Earlier press reports indicated McHugh would fire both men.) Metzler, who had served for 19 years as cemetery superintendent, admitted some mistakes had been made but denied allegations of widespread or serious mismanagement. Metzler and Higginbotham subsequently retired with full benefits. A reprimand given to Metzler was removed from his personnel file once his retirement became effective.Davenport, Christian, "Congress Calls For Accountability At Arlington", The Washington Post, 15 April 2011, p. B1.
McHugh also announced the creation of a new post, the Executive Director of the Army National Cemeteries Program, to implement the recommendations of the inspector general's report. Kathryn Condon, previously the most senior civilian in the U.S. Army Materiel Command, was appointed to the position. Metzler was ordered to report directly to the new Executive Director, and a United States Department of Veterans Affairs staff person assigned to assist him. McHugh also established a new Army National Cemeteries Advisory Commission to review Arlington National Cemetery's policies and procedures and provide additional recommendations. Former U.S. Senators Max Cleland and Bob Dole agreed to co-chair the commission. Patrick K. Hallinan, Director of the Office of Field Programs for the Department of Veterans Affairs, was named the Acting Superintendent of Arlington National Cemetery, effective upon Metzler's retirement. In June 2011, James Gemmell, former director of the Fort Snelling National Cemetery, was appointed as the cemetery's deputy superintendent.Baldor, Lolita C., Associated Press, "New deputy superintendent hired at Arlington", Military Times, 10 June 2011.
On June 16, 2010, The Washington Post notified the cemetery's new superintendent, Patrick K. Hallinan, that the newspaper's staff had found discarded headstones, most still bearing names, in a stream adjacent to Section 28 of the cemetery. Arlington officials are investigating and stated that they do not know why the headstones were there. U.S. Army officials said they would begin inspecting some graves using ground-penetrating radar.
Ongoing issues Since the close of its investigation, the US Army has operated a call center to answer questions or concerns from family members of internees at the cemetery. Other workers were struggling, as of July 2010, according to The Washington Post, with reorganizing and untangling the cemetery's "antiquated" records system.Davis, Aaron C., "Digging Through Disorder At Arlington", The Washington Post, July 12, 2010, p. B1.
A Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (SHSGA) subcommittee on contracting oversight is currently investigating contract issues related to a failed attempt to digitize the cemetery's grave management and remains cataloging system. According to The Washington Post, the subcommittee had found that the cemetery paid $5 million in government funds to contractors over 10 years for work on the system that was not completed and with which little progress was made. The contracts were reportedly managed by Higginbotham. Upon being notified that he was being called to testify before the committee, Higginbotham immediately submitted retirement papers, dated retroactively to July 2, 2010.