Air Force morgue lost body parts

WASHINGTON -- The Air Force mortuary that receives America's war dead and prepares them for burial lost portions of human remains twice in 2009, prompting the Air Force to discipline three senior officials for "gross mismanagement."

A yearlong Air Force investigation reviewed 14 sets of allegations of improper handling of war remains as reported by three whistle-blower workers at Dover Air Force Base, Del. That is where all war dead are received from foreign battlefields to be identified, autopsied and prepared for transfer to their families.

The Air Force inspector general concluded that no laws or regulations had been violated, as alleged, but an independent agency that reviewed the probe said the Air Force failed to accept accountability for its mistakes.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has asked for a separate investigation.

The Air Force found that the mortuary's top leadership failed over time to respond to clear signs of weakness in accounting for human remains -- a task the Air Force says it considers one of its most solemn duties.

Two of the three officials who were punished are still working at Dover but not in supervisory jobs. None was fired.

In reviewing the Air Force's probe, the Office of Special Counsel, an independent federal investigative agency, sharply disputed the conclusion that none of the allegations of mishandling of remains amounted to violations of law or regulation. The special counsel submitted its own report Tuesday to the White House and to the House and Senate armed services committees that oversee the Air Force.

The special counsel's office, which triggered the Air Force probe by referring to it the Dover whistleblowers' allegations, said some of the Air Force's conclusions "do not appear reasonable" and in some cases are not supported by available evidence.

"In these instances the report demonstrates a pattern of the Air Force's failure to acknowledge culpability for wrongdoing relating to the treatment of remains of service members and their families," the special counsel's report said.

"The findings stop short of accepting accountability for failing to handle remains with the requisite 'reverence, care and dignity befitting them and the circumstances,' " it said.