U.S. & World

SAN JOSE, Calif. (CBS News) ― The military has found no criminal wrongdoing in the friendly fire death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman in Afghanistan, but says there were critical errors in reporting the former NFL star's death and failing to provide details to his family.

Army and Defense Department investigators said Monday that officers looking into the incident passed along misleading and inaccurate information and delayed reporting their belief that Tillman was killed by his fellow soldiers. The investigators recommended the Army take action against the officers.

Among those blamed were the three-star general in charge of Army special operations as well as Tillman's regimental commander.

The findings end a yearlong inquiry into the conduct of the U.S. soldiers who shot Tillman in 2004 and a possible subsequent cover-up.

The Army announced in March 2006 that it would open a new investigation into the circumstances of Tillman's death, in response to complaints from the former National Football League star's family and congressional representatives that previous probes had left key questions unanswered.

Although the Army never publicly discussed the scope of the new investigation, a senior Pentagon official said at the time that it would focus on possible charges of negligent homicide. Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said then that investigators would determine whether any of Tillman's fellow soldiers were "firing a weapon when they should not have been."

A government official who was briefed on the findings of the investigation said Monday that acting Defense Department Inspector General Thomas Gimble found no instance of criminal negligence. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the Pentagon had not yet publicly released its findings. That announcement was expected later Monday.

Meanwhile, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports that a separate investigation by the Pentagon's inspector general will blame nine officers — including four generals — for failing to follow regulations and using poor judgment in a series of missteps that kept the truth of how Tillman died from his family for more than a month.

President Bush has been keeping apprised of developments in the Tillman case, including Monday's scheduled release of the report, and "wants to learn more," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. She said Bush, like Defense Secretary Robert Gates, has "very serious concerns" about the events surrounding Tillman's death, his family's notification and the performance of military personnel, Perino said.

Tillman died in Afghanistan's Paktia province, along the Pakistan border, after his platoon was ordered to split into two groups and one of the units began firing. Tillman and an Afghan with him were killed. A specialist at the time of his death, he was posthumously promoted to corporal.

His death drew worldwide attention in part because he had turned down a multimillion-dollar contract to play defensive back for the Arizona Cardinals in order to join the Army Rangers after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Dozens of soldiers — those immediately around Tillman at the scene of the shooting, his immediate superiors and high-ranking officers at a command post nearby — knew within minutes or hours that his death was fratricide.

Even so, the Army persisted in telling Tillman's family he was killed in a conventional ambush, including at his nationally televised memorial service 11 days later. It was five weeks before his family was told the truth, a delay the Army has blamed on procedural mistakes.

The Criminal Investigation Command — the Pentagon's version of the FBI — visited the scene of Tillman's death nearly two years after his fellow Rangers opened up on him in a barren, mountainous expanse.

They combed the landscape with surviving witnesses, found a rock stained with Tillman's blood, and re-enacted the scene where Tillman's fellow Rangers swept through the canyon in their Humvee, firing up at him. Over the months, CID agents also interviewed dozens of participants and others with knowledge of the case.

(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)