Cemetery issued a statement saying that the $12 million discussed in the hearing has been "fully accounted for" and was part of $26.8 million "obligated but not disbursed."
WASHINGTON • Army officials said this afternoon that relatives of those buried at Arlington National Cemetery soon will be able to locate graves using smart phones, a dramatic improvement since problems were discovered in 2010.
Nonetheless, the cemetery still is working to confirm information for 62,000 burial sites, officials testified at a Senate hearing.
Also, the Army is recalculating the true number of people interred at Arlington, which is more than 400,000 rather than 330,000, the estimate used over the years.
In addition, officials acknowledged that they remain mystified as to the whereabouts of $12 million appropriated to Arlington in recent years, among accounting problems the Army discovered.
Nonetheless, Sen. Claire McCaskill, who chaired the Senate hearing, said she believes that significant strides have been made since revelations of gross mismanagement of a cemetery that is hallowed ground to many Americans.
"We've made a lot of progress in the last 18 months. We're not there yet," she said.
McCaskill, D-Mo., became the Senate's main watchdog over the cemetery after disclosure that hundreds of graves there were unmarked, wrongly identified or mislabeled on maps. She engineered legislation requiring reports to Congress, and the hearing Wednesday by her Senate Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight was another in a series examining progress.
Kathryn Condon, executive director of the Army National Cemeteries Program, said Arlington is able now to confidently identify information for 210,076 graves for veterans and family members and that cross-checking is underway elsewhere at the 624-acre cemetery in northern Virginia.
A significant problem identified in 2010 was the lack of a computerized grave-tracking system despite expenditures of as much as $8 million to technology companies.
In coming months, Condon said, relatives will be able to find graves via GPS on computers or smart phones and obtain maps printed at kiosks in the cemetery.
"Arlington has made monumental changes the last 19 months and we continue to move forward each and every day, capturing our progress with repeatable processes and predictable results," she said.
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., told the officials that "rebuilding the trust is going to be a tall task."
McCaskill outlined several key steps that remain, principally documenting information for the 62,000, making information available to the public and establishing better oversight of outside contracts.
McCaskill said she would continue pressing for an accounting of the missing $12 million, part of discrepancies in a recent audit.
"I don't think there has been any indication of people walking away with money. It was just incompetence," she said.
SOURCE: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/political-fix/mccaskill-arlington-cemetery-improved-but-work-remains-in-tracking-graves/article_b78fc5d6-47a6-11e1-8f8b-001a4bcf6878.html
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| Arlington National Cemetery |
WASHINGTON • Army officials said this afternoon that relatives of those buried at Arlington National Cemetery soon will be able to locate graves using smart phones, a dramatic improvement since problems were discovered in 2010.
Nonetheless, the cemetery still is working to confirm information for 62,000 burial sites, officials testified at a Senate hearing.
Also, the Army is recalculating the true number of people interred at Arlington, which is more than 400,000 rather than 330,000, the estimate used over the years.
In addition, officials acknowledged that they remain mystified as to the whereabouts of $12 million appropriated to Arlington in recent years, among accounting problems the Army discovered.
Nonetheless, Sen. Claire McCaskill, who chaired the Senate hearing, said she believes that significant strides have been made since revelations of gross mismanagement of a cemetery that is hallowed ground to many Americans.
"We've made a lot of progress in the last 18 months. We're not there yet," she said.
McCaskill, D-Mo., became the Senate's main watchdog over the cemetery after disclosure that hundreds of graves there were unmarked, wrongly identified or mislabeled on maps. She engineered legislation requiring reports to Congress, and the hearing Wednesday by her Senate Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight was another in a series examining progress.
Kathryn Condon, executive director of the Army National Cemeteries Program, said Arlington is able now to confidently identify information for 210,076 graves for veterans and family members and that cross-checking is underway elsewhere at the 624-acre cemetery in northern Virginia.
A significant problem identified in 2010 was the lack of a computerized grave-tracking system despite expenditures of as much as $8 million to technology companies.
In coming months, Condon said, relatives will be able to find graves via GPS on computers or smart phones and obtain maps printed at kiosks in the cemetery.
"Arlington has made monumental changes the last 19 months and we continue to move forward each and every day, capturing our progress with repeatable processes and predictable results," she said.
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., told the officials that "rebuilding the trust is going to be a tall task."
McCaskill outlined several key steps that remain, principally documenting information for the 62,000, making information available to the public and establishing better oversight of outside contracts.
McCaskill said she would continue pressing for an accounting of the missing $12 million, part of discrepancies in a recent audit.
"I don't think there has been any indication of people walking away with money. It was just incompetence," she said.
SOURCE: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/political-fix/mccaskill-arlington-cemetery-improved-but-work-remains-in-tracking-graves/article_b78fc5d6-47a6-11e1-8f8b-001a4bcf6878.html
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