FACT CHECK: No, Pete Hegseth Did Not Remove Colin Powell From List Of Notable Americans Buried At Arlington

A viral post shared on X claims Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth purportedly removed Colin Powell’s name from a list of notable Americans buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Pete Hegseth removed Colin Powell’s name from a list of notable Americans, buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Hegseth also removed the names of every person of color and every woman on the same list. Only white men were left in place. pic.twitter.com/FZlv8gdUS9

— 👊🇺🇸🔥 Turnbull (@cturnbull1968) March 20, 2025

Verdict: False

Powell’s name is included in a list of notable Americans buried at Arlington under the “Politics and Government” section of the cemetery’s website.

Fact Check:

Virginia Democratic Sen. Mark Warner has called for Hegseth and national security adviser Mike Waltz to resign after a journalist was added to a private Signal chat about intended military strikes, according to The Hill. Warner labeled the mistake as “sloppy, careless, incompetent behavior,” the outlet reported.

The X post, which has received over eight million views as of writing, claims Hegseth purportedly removed Powell’s name from a list of notable Americans buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

“Pete Hegseth removed Colin Powell’s name from a list of notable Americans, buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Hegseth also removed the names of every person of color and every woman on the same list. Only white men were left in place,” the post, which features an image of Powell, reads. The post does not include a source to support its claim.

The claim is false. Powell’s name is included in a list of notable Americans buried at Arlington under the “Politics and Government” section of the cemetery’s website. Likewise, an update posted to the website on March 19 reiterates that no one has been removed from the list of notable Americans buried at Arlington.

“Arlington National Cemetery is actively working to update our website and Education Program content in compliance with executive orders issued by the president and Department of Defense instructions,” the update begins.

“We want to clarify that no service members have been permanently removed from the ‘Notable Graves’ section of our website. These pages highlight stories of historically significant individuals with accuracy and in commemoration of their service and sacrifice. All profiles of individuals from the previously listed categories’ African American History,’ ‘Hispanic American History’ and ‘Women’s History’ can be found in other categories, such as ‘Prominent Military Figures,’ ‘Politics and Government,’ or ‘Science, Technology and Engineering’ (to name a few examples), based on the person’s historical contributions to our nation,” it continues.

In addition, on March 20, Hegseth labeled the claim as “fake” via his personal X account @PeteHegseth. Furthermore, Check Your Fact found no credible news reports to support the claim. Actually, the opposite is true. On March 25, PolitiFact debunked the claim. (RELATED: Has Trump Ordered The Keystone Pipeline To ‘Transport Only American Oil?’)

This is not the first time a false claim about Hegseth has circulated online. Check Your Fact previously debunked an image shared on Facebook claiming Hegseth had declassified “all [of the] Benghazi files.”