Defense Primer: Arlington National Cemetery

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Updated October 15, 2024

Defense Primer: Arlington National Cemetery

Defense Primer: Arlington National Cemetery

Updated June 9, 2026 (IF11362)

Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) is a military cemetery administered by the Office of Army Cemeteries. Located in Arlington County, Virginia, the cemetery was created in 1864 during the Civil War from 200 acres of plantation land that once belonged to George Washington Parke Custis, step-grandson of the first U.S. President. Custis bequeathed his estate to his daughter, who had married U.S. Army 1^st Lt.Lieutenant Robert E. Lee in 1831. At the start of the Civil War in 1861, the Custis Lee family fled the property. The Union Army then occupied and fortified the estate to help defend the nation’'s capital. In 1863, the Freedman’Freedman's Village was established on the southern portion of the property to assist former slaves transitioningformerly enslaved individuals in their transition to freedom by providing shelter, medical care, education, and training. On June 15, 1864, the War Department officially designated the burial site as a military cemetery. The The first military burial took place on May 13, 1864, for Private William Henry Christman, a Union soldier from Pennsylvania. Since then, over 16,000 Civil War soldiers have been laid to rest at ANC. This includes 2,111 Union and Confederate soldiers who are buried underneath the Tomb of the Civil War Unknowns in Section 26. In total, ANC contains the remains of nearly 5,000 unknown servicemembers. After years of legal wrangling with the Custis Lee family, the U.S. government officially purchased the property on March 3, 1883, for $150,000 (over $4 million today). According to ANC, there are now approximately 430, a Union soldier from Pennsylvania. Two

unknown Union soldiers were later interred on May 15, 1864, the first of nearly 5,000 unknown soldiers now resting in ANC. On June 15, 1864, the War Department officially designated the burial site as a military cemetery. By the end of the Civil War, the grounds contained the graves of 6,000 Union soldiers. On March 3, 1883, the U.S. government purchased the property for $150,000 after years of legal wrangling with the Custis Lee family. Currently, there are approximately 400,000 veterans and their eligible dependents buried there. buried at Arlington Cemetery.

Current Eligibility

Eligibility criteria for burial at ArlingtonANC is in accordance with the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.), Title 32, Part 553, Sections 12 and 1313. See Table 1.

Table 1. Current Eligibility Requirements for Burial and Inurnment at Arlington National Cemetery

Servicemember with Honorable Discharge

Inurnment in

Columbarium Court

or Niche Wall

In-groundGround Burial

(Casket or Urn)

Dies on Title 10 federal active duty (other than for training) Yes Yes

Dies on active duty for training only under Title 10 Yes No

Veteran –

Yes

Yes

Dies on active duty for training only under Title 10

Yes

No

Veteran—retired from active duty; reserve retirees receiving retirement pay Yes Yes

Veteran –

Yes

Yes

Veteran—at least one day active duty other than for training Yes No

Veteran –

Yes

No

Veteran—received Medal of Honor (MoH), Distinguished Service Cross (Air Force Cross, or Navy Cross), Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star, or Purple Heart

Yes Yes

Yes

Yes

Any member of a Reserve component of the Armed Forces, and any member of the Army National Guard or the Air National Guard, whose death occurs under honorable conditions while on active duty for training or performing full-time service

Yes No

Yes

No

Any former prisoner of war (POW) who, while a prisoner of war, served honorably in the active military, naval, or air service; whose last period of service terminated honorably; and who died on or after November 30, 1993

Yes Yes

Yes

Yes

Source: Arlington National Cemetery Establishing Eligibility at , "Establishing Eligibility," https://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Funerals/Eligibility;Funerals/Scheduling-a-Funeral/Establishing- Eligibility and in accordance with 32 C.F.R. Part 553, Sections 12 and 13.

§§12 and 13. Table is as updated as of June 5, 2026.

Proposed Changes to Eligibility

Due to capacity concerns, in September 2020, the Army proposed changes to the eligibility for in-ground burial and above- ground inurnment at Arlington CemeteryANC. The proposed rule, published in the Federal Register, would limit eligibility to certain groups, and was issued in response to requirements in Section 598 of P.L. 115-232, the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY2019. The Army indicatedindicated that the changes would allow the cemeteryANC to continue to function as an active burial ground “"well into the future,”" defined as 150 years. Without

the new eligibility restrictions, Arlington projects it would reach capacity for new interment by 2041, or by the mid- ANC states that it will run out of space for new burials by 2041—or by the mid-2060s with the eventual completion of itsthe Southern Expansion project. As of 2022, fewer than 75,000 burial spaces remainedAccording to the Army, as of June 2026, approximately 67,200 burial spaces remain available within the current cemetery. Public comments, The public comment period on the proposed rule closedclosed November 16, 2020. After considering public comments, the Army plansplanned to publish a final rule. According to the Army, revised eligibility at ANC, which they estimated would occur in August 2025, although the rule has not been finalized as of June 5, 2026. According to ANC, "implementation of revised eligibility will not affect previously scheduled burial services. In addition, theservices." The proposed revisions willare not to affect veterans’' burial benefits or veteran eligibility at

Defense Primer: Arlington National Cemetery

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Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) National Cemetery Administration (NCA) or state veterans’' cemeteries.

Proposed Eligibility for In-Ground Interment: • Servicemembers killed in action, to include repatriated

remains;

• remains Current and future MoHMedal of Honor recipients (ANC to reserve

1,000 gravesites);

• Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross, Navy

Cross, Air Force Cross, andor Silver Star;

• Recipients of the Purple Heart; • Those who died in combat-related service while

conducting uniquely military activities;

• Former POWs; •

Former prisoners of war

Presidents and Vice Presidents of the United States; and • Veterans with combat service who also served out of

uniform as government officials and made significant contributions to the nation's security at the highest levels of public service.

Proposed Eligibility for Above-Ground Inurnment: • World War II-–era veterans, to include legislated active-

duty designees;

• Retirees from the armed forcesArmed Forces who are eligible to

receive retired pay but are not otherwise eligible for interment;

• Veterans who have served a minimum of two years on

active duty and who have served in combat; and

• Veterans without combat service who also served out of

uniform as government officials and made significant contributions to the nation's security at the highest levels of public service.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (TUS)

On November 11, 2021, ArlingtonANC marked the centennial commemoration of the TUSTomb of the Unknown Soldier, which was dedicated on November 11, 1921, to mark the grave of an American unknown soldier from World War I (WWI). In August 1956, President Eisenhower approvedsigned into law P.L. 84-975, approving the selection and interment of unknown soldiers from both WWIIWorld War II and Korea, and in May 1984, President Reagan interredinterred a Vietnam War Unknown Soldierunknown soldier. In 1998, DNA testing confirmed that the Unknown Soldierunknown soldier from the Vietnam War was Air Force 1st Lt.1^st Lieutenant Michael Joseph Blassie, who was later reinterred at the National Cemetery in St. Louis, MissouriMO. On September 17, 1999, the Vietnam tomb was rededicated to honor all missing U.S. servicemembers from the Vietnam War.

Expansion Plans

ANC occupies almost ANC occupies 639 acres of land in Arlington County, Virginia. Since its inception, ANC has expanded to meet the demand for more burial space. The latest expansion islatest expansions are the Millennium Project and the Southern Expansion Program, which includes the Defense Access Roads (DAR) and Southern Expansion projects.

Southern Expansion

What would become known as the Southern Expansion program started in 1998 with the ANC Master Plan, which identified a former Navy annex site as suitable interment space. Through extensive public engagement and feedback over the next two decades, these efforts to expand ANC developed into two distinct but interconnected projects: the Federal Highway Administration DAR and Southern Expansion projects. The DAR project consists of roadway realignments to increase safety and capacity of roadways in the area and add "multimodal transportation capacity." Section 2105 of the NDAA for FY2019 authorized $60 million for ANC extension projects. The Southern Expansion project, which aims to add 80,000 additional internment and burial spaces, is split into several phases: Phase I creates retaining walls for the site of the new Operations Complex, Phase II constructs the Operations Complex, and Phase III expands burial grounds and columbaria. According to ANC, the DAR project and Phase I are anticipated to be completed in September 2026. Phase II is scheduled for completion in November 2026. The contract for the construction of Phase III was awarded in February 2026, and construction has since started.

Relevant Statutes and Regulations

Southern Expansion project.

Millennium Project Conceived in the 1990s, the $81.7 million undertaking was the first geographic expansion of the cemetery in four decades. The 27 additional acres in the northwestern part of the cemetery were allocated from a construction staging

area for the cemetery as well as recreation land from nearby Fort Myer and National Park Service woodland. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and several contractors started construction in 2014, and the completed project was dedicated on September 7, 2018. Two unknown soldiers from the Civil War were buried to mark the first in-ground burial at the site. According to ANC, Millennium provides 27,282 new interment spaces that are located either above- or below-ground and the columbarium offers 16,400 above- ground niches for cremated remains.

Southern Expansion The USACE plans to expand ANC southward started in 2021 to envelop the site of the old Navy Annex building that was demolished in 2013, adding approximately 50 acres of burial space. Section 2105 of the NDAA for FY2019 set the authorization to $60 million for Arlington extension projects. For more, see “Arlington National Cemetery” in CRS Report R45343, FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act: Selected Military Personnel Issues. According to the ANC, the Defense Access Roads project is anticipated to be completed in November 2025. Phase III of the Expansion is projected to begin in late 2025 or early 2026. The new Operations Complex is scheduled for completion in November 2026.

Relevant Statutes and Regulations

32 C.F.R. §553.11. General rules governing eligibility for interment, inurnment, and memorialization at Arlington National Cemetery.

85 Federal Register 57640 (Sept. 15, 2020). Proposed Rule on Army Cemeteries.

38 U.S.C.. §2410. Burial of cremated remains in Arlington National Cemetery.

38 U.S.C. §2411. Prohibition against interment or memorialization in the NCA or ANCNational Cemetery Administration or Arlington National Cemetery of persons committing Federal or State capital crimes.

Related CRS Reports

CRS Report R44426, Military Funeral Honors for Veterans.

CRS Report R41386, Veterans’' Benefits: Burial Benefits and National Cemeteries.

Selected Sources

Arlington National Cemetery. “Proposed Revised Eligibility Criteria.”

USACE Southern Expansion Project website, and USACE’s Arlington National Cemetery

ANC, "Proposed Revised Eligibility Criteria"

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Southern Expansion Project website and ANC Project News and Information..

U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, “"Arlington National Cemetery Defense Access Roads (DAR) Project" Arlington National Cemetery Defense Access Roads (DAR) Project.”

Barbara Salazar Torreon, Senior Research Librarian Clayton M. Levy, Research Specialist

IF11362

Defense Primer: Arlington National Cemetery

https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF11362 · VERSION 5 · UPDATED

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