Sen. Mark R. Warner wants to tap a rich resource from Northern Virginia to help fix problems at Arlington National Cemetery: high-tech brain power.

The Virginia senator hopes to enlist sharp minds from the Northern Virginia Technology Council to advise cemetery officials on information technology — something that might immediately improve the cemetery's scandal-plagued records system, he said Thursday.

He would like the help to come free of charge. He characterized it as "a short-term patch" until more permanent solutions can be found for a system that still depends on paper trails, Warner said.

Earlier this month, Army investigators reported that at least 211 remains were determined to be potentially mislabeled or misplaced, and there could be more. Some graves were unmarked. Some had headstones not recorded on burial maps.

Arlington is considered the nation's most hallowed burial site. More than 300,000 Americans have been buried there with military honors.

Warner requested a briefing after the Army report became public, and he received that Thursday.

"Like most Americans, I have been very disappointed — frankly, fairly appalled at some of the reports of what has transpired at Arlington National Cemetery," he said.

Northern Virginia is a technology hub that fuels much of the state's economic engine. The council is the membership organization for the region's technology community.

Warner said he's contacted the council, which indicated "members of this region's IT industry would be eager to step up, even on a pro-bono basis, to help protect and preserve these fragile records in the short-term, and offer advice on longer-term IT solutions."

He credited Army Secretary John McHugh for making personnel moves designed to put the operation back on track. McHugh reprimanded the outgoing superintendent and appointed a new director to oversee cemetery operations.

But with a record system that still depends on index cards, Warner said the cemetery is "one spilled Starbucks coffee away " from spoiling or damaging another family's record.

He said the Army has spent at least $5.5 million since 2003 on digitizing records and automation, yet it appears no one was responsible for seeing that through.

Warner said an information-technology "tiger team" can go to work immediately. While he acknowledged there are legal issues to work through, "this should be able to be solved relatively easily," he said.

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