Another problem, the report said, is that the Army's Training and Doctrine Command never actually developed training for first responders to attacks by weapons of mass destruction, because it had never received sufficient guidance or doctrine for that from top Pentagon officials.

"Until the doctrine is developed, the Army will not know what equipment and training is needed," the report said.

Army headquarters agreed, and said it would develop doctrine for tactics, techniques and procedures by the end of the current quarter.

The report said such weaknesses led to related problems that thwarted the Army's goal of developing a flexible "standard package" of equipment and training outlines for each base.

Inspectors found that instead of developing such a standard package, separate commands within the Army were often spending millions of dollars to develop their own training and designing their own initiatives to equip first responders "with no assurance that the equipment and training acquired will conform to the (Armywide) doctrine once it is developed."

The Army responded that it will sort through such separate initiatives to ensure they are consistent with the Army's overall plans.

Another problem the report found is that money intended to train first responders often has gone for other, unrelated projects.

For example, inspectors complained that Utah's Deseret Chemical Depot in Tooele County had proposed — and Army Materiel Command had approved — using $700,000 of such funds to relocate propane tanks, better protect a natural gas regulator and upgrade a water fire suppression system.

The report said that was not related to training first responders. So it was among nearly $16 million in projects the Army agreed was questionable, and was canceled. The Army also agreed to more closely "scrub" requests for first-responder training money.

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E-mail: lee@desnews.com