Pentagon admits it dumped some 9/11 remains in a landfill

For the first time, the Defense Department acknowledged Tuesday that some remains of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were dumped in a landfill.

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The Defense Department was scheduled to brief reporters on the findings of an independent review of the military's Dover, Del., mortuary later Tuesday.

The Washington Post said the report  — which wasn't immediately publicly available — reveals that "small portions of unidentified human remains" recovered from the 9/11 sites at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pa., were "incinerated and ultimately dumped in a landfill."

Read the full Washington Post story

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta formed an independent task force, headed by retired Army Gen. John Abizaid, in December to assess operations at the Dover facility after an investigation by the Air Force, which runs the facility, found some remains weren't handled "in accordance with procedures."

The Air Force acknowledged that it had disposed of the incinerated remains of at least 274 service members in the landfill before it ended the practice in 2008. At the time, officials said records went back only to 2003.

In its report Tuesday, the independent panel revealed that "several portions of remains" recovered from the Sept. 11 attacks at the Pentagon and at Shanksville, Pa., also ended up in a landfill, The Post reported.

The remains couldn't be tested or identified, "apparently because they were too small or charred to allow for DNA analysis," the newspaper reported.

Panetta on Tuesday appointed Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to oversee changes at Dover recommended in the report.

"My continuing promise to all the families of our fallen heroes is that every step will be taken to protect the honor and respect that their loved ones richly deserve," Panetta said in a statement. "Having been to Dover, I consider this a sacred place with a sacred responsibility."

The Dover facility is the first point of entry for U.S. service members who are killed or die overseas. It first came under investigation in 2010 after employees complained about the handling of certain cases.

Investigators said last year that they had found no evidence that anyone intentionally mishandled remains, but they concluded that the mortuary staff failed to "maintain accountability" with some remains.

"The standard is 100 percent accountability in every instance of this important mission," the Air Force chief of staff, Gen. Norton Schwartz, said at the time. 

"We can, and will, do better, and as a result of the allegations and investigation, our ability to care for our fallen warriors is now stronger,” he said.

By M. Alex Johnson of msnbc.com. Follow M. Alex Johnson on Twitter and Facebook.

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