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Members of a key House subcommittee Thursday praised the progress made by the new managers in turning around Arlington National Cemetery after discoveries of severe mismanagement last year.
“I am pleased that … the mismanagement and dysfunction found during the Army’s original investigation in the summer of 2010 no longer exist,” said Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., the top Democrat on House Veteran’s Affairs Committee’s disability assistance and memorial affairs panel. “However, I know that problems of the magnitude plaguing Arlington in the past will not disappear overnight.”
Arlington National Cemetery. Photo by Laura Phelps/MNSappear overnight.”
The 628-acre cemetery came under fire in 2010 for mislabeled remains, no electronic system to record data or mapping of the deceased, and a lack of even a voicemail set-up for family members to contact staff regarding burials.
After learning that records were typed up on an archaic typewriter until last year and kept on index cards, Army National Cemeteries Program Executive Director Kathryn Condon said the cemetery has made significant improvements in technology.
Her team has implemented a new scheduling system, a new website, a web-enabled transparency system and is working on a new Google Maps-like system to better manage the grounds and grave assignments, she said.
“Due to your diligence, hard work, and excellent management, the problems which plagued Arlington National Cemetery just one year ago have been addressed and the majority have been eliminated,” said Rep. Jon Runyan, R-N.J., chairman of the subcommittee.
Still, lawmakers remain concerned by the wait times families endure when trying to bury someone in Arlington National Cemetery.
After the establishment of a call center that can direct and record calls, burial requests are increasing and, therefore, so are the wait times, the cemetery officials said.
Maj. Gen. William McCoy, Jr., the Army’s acting inspector general, testified that the wait time for burials as of June was about 87 days.
However, Superintendent Patrick Hallinan estimated that the wait time today is about 74 days.
Hallinan said his goal is to reduce that to 65 days, but added that he does not want to risk shortcuts being made on ceremonies just to fit in more burials.
Condon added that most families decide it’s worth waiting to have their family members interred or inurned at the cemetery.
With a team of approximately 140 staff members, Arlington National Cemetery has an average of 27 inurnments or interments each day. The goal is to have 30 each day; 34 were scheduled for Thursday.
There have been 5,358 burials this year, Condon said.
McCoy reiterated that he disagrees with suggestions that the Army should turn over management of the cemetery to the Department of Veterans Affairs. That would only increase ineffectiveness and bureaucracy, he said.
Another Arlington inspection will be completed next summer, McCoy said.