Investigating claim of Colin Powell’s name being removed from Arlington Cemetery website

A rumor that circulated online in March 2025 claimed U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth oversaw the removal of former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s name from a list of noteworthy military figures hosted on the Arlington National Cemetery website. Social media users discussed this matter in the days after the removal of links to pages about Black, Hispanic and female veterans buried at the site, among other Department of Defense removals. The Office of Army Cemeteries, a division of the U.S. Army, operates the prominent military cemetery just outside Washington. The Army and other military branches report to the…