Audit faults lack of command

An audit of the unusually lengthy search for missing pilot Steve Fossett has determined that $1.6 million was spent on the search and that it sharply depleted the training budget of the Nevada National Guard. It also said that the lack of an “effective command structure” helped create the problem.

Gov. Gibbons, commander of the state guard, has denied having a hand in the search, but an email message by a guard major said Gibbons “was personally responsible for the NGNV [National Guard Nevada] continuing the search beyond what would have been a ‘normal’ search duration.”