Arlington Burial Waivers Are Examined

A House panel is investigating possible irregularities in the Army’s granting of exceptions for nonmilitary Americans who want to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, congressional staffers said Wednesday.

Members of the House Veterans Affairs Committee also were demanding that Army Secretary Togo West Jr. respond to a magazine report alleging that some of those receiving the waivers were big donors to the Democratic Party and President Clinton’s reelection campaign.

At the White House, Special Counsel Lanny J. Davis called the accounts “scurrilous and untrue” and said neither Clinton nor anyone else at the White House had ever made such a recommendation.

“The president and this administration consider Arlington National Cemetery and other national and veterans cemeteries across the country to be hallowed ground,” Davis said. “It would be outrageous for anyone to grant or influence the granting of exceptions under the rules for burial at national cemeteries because of political or fund-raising considerations.”

He said the report was “based on anonymous sources and innuendo, not the facts.”

But congressional Republicans said they wanted a thorough airing of the accusation.

“It’s nothing short of a national disgrace if it happened,” said Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), who wrote West asking whether he had permitted civilians to be buried in national cemeteries.

Davis said Clinton has granted just four exceptions for burial at Arlington: for a Supreme Court justice, the wife of another Supreme Court justice, an Army veteran Drug Enforcement Administration agent killed on a mission in Peru and a Washington police officer and Marine Corps veteran killed in the line of duty. He said the White House may have provided information to the Army in connection with burial requests for other individuals.

Rep. Terry Everett (R-Ala.) said the Veterans Affairs oversight subcommittee he chairs has “found some questionable waivers made in recent years.” The panel began looking into the matter last summer after a story was published in Army Times, an independent newspaper.

The Army denied that favoritism toward Democratic contributors, or donors to Clinton, played any role in the waivers. A two-page fact sheet issued by the Army said West has approved 58 requests for exceptions to the burial policy at Arlington since November 1993, when he took office. The statement said Clinton granted one exception in 1993 and three in 1994.

Maj. Gen. John G. Meyer Jr., chief of Army public affairs, issued a statement saying that all exceptions were granted based on “careful and individual consideration,” not political favoritism.

“Allegations that exceptions for burial at Arlington National Cemetery are being granted for political considerations or, worse, for political contributions, are untrue and a disservice to American military men and women, past and present,” Meyer said.

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Burial at Arlington and the 114 other national cemeteries around the country is generally restricted to those who have served in the armed forces and the reserves and their immediate family members. Eligibility for Arlington is particularly tight because of limited space, and usually only the most decorated veterans are accepted.

But exceptions can be granted by the Army secretary or top Veterans Affairs Department officials.

Insight, a magazine published by the Washington Times, said the White House has cleared at least half a dozen and West about a dozen Arlington waivers out of thousands of requests.

The story alleged that some who received waivers for burial at the national cemeteries got them because they made large donations to the Clinton reelection campaign and the Democratic Party. It did not publish names.