Arlington National Cemetery to Get a Much Needed Facelift in Burial Records

Yippee!  There's almost nothing as disappointing as when a cemetery has been sloppy in keeping records or in finding out the old cemetery keeper of the information's family thought it worthless and threw it out.  I'm so glad this project to preserve the burial records and information of our nation's heroes is getting the assistance it needs from volunteers! Read on......


Northern Virginia Technology Council Member Organizations to Assess Arlington National Cemetery's Information Technology Requirements


/PRNewswire/ -- The Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) announced today that the Department of the Army has accepted in principle the organization's pro bono offer to provide assistance in the assessment of the information technology requirements to rectify the unacceptable state of the records at Arlington National Cemetery. This effort stems from an Army investigation earlier this year that found the Cemetery's record keeping in shambles, burial records on index cards, improperly marked graves and serious difficulties in accurately locating the graves in the cemetery. All these issues persisted despite spending more than $5 million on a program to digitize burial records that has shown no results.


In response to public reports of this serious problem to record keeping, the following 15 NVTC member companies have volunteered their assistance to constitute an assessment group: ACS, a Xerox Company; Blue Canopy; Booz Allen Hamilton; CACI; CGI; Consumer Electronics Association (CEA); Corporation for National Research Initiatives; CSC; IBM; Lee Technologies; MAXIMUS; Microsoft; MITRE; SoltechOne; and Vistronix.


"The NVTC membership is eager and willing to support the U.S. Army as it responds to this difficult situation. We want to ensure that we honor the women and men who served their country and, in many cases, gave the ultimate sacrifice for this nation. We are united in our willingness to support Senator Warner in his efforts to remedy this crisis," said George C. Newstrom, President and COO of Lee Technologies and former Secretary of Technology for then-Governor Mark Warner.


"NVTC is made up of the country's most well respected and innovative technology companies and this collaborative pro bono effort demonstrates their loyalty, compassion and admiration for those who served in the armed forces, many making the ultimate sacrifice," said Bobbie Kilberg, President and CEO, NVTC. "We applaud Senator Warner for his leadership in trying to resolve this important matter. NVTC looks forward to working under the direction of Army Secretary McHugh and his team to help assess Arlington Cemetery's technology requirements. It is an honor and privilege to be involved."
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