Higginbotham, who had served as deputy superintendent for the national military cemetery for twenty years, quickly submitted his retirement paperwork this month “before Army officials could compel him to meet with a Senate Homeland Security subcommittee investigating contracting irregularities, including more than $5 million paid to a series of minority-owned start-up companies that failed to produce a digitized system for cataloguing remains,” reported The Washington Post.

 

Higginbotham had been on administrative leave since last month while the U.S. Army decided whether to discipline him for his role in allowing soldiers to be buried without headstones, among other problems discovered.

 

The management of Arlington was deemed “dysfunctional” and chaotic, due to bad relations between Higginbotham and the cemetery’s superintendent, John Metzler Jr., who also has retired, effective July 2. Higginbotham had worked at Arlington for more than 40 years.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Arlington Cemetery Official Retires Amid Probe of Botched Contracts, Site Problems (by Aaron Davis, Washington Post)

Millions of Dollars Wasted at Arlington Cemetery (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

Arlington Cemetery Officer Fired for Helping Media (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)