Senior Defence officers' failures to address significant weaknesses in training, leadership and combat readiness might have contributed to the death of an Australian Army officer in Afghanistan last year, an inquiry has found.
Lieutenant Michael Fussell, 25, an artillery officer attached to the 4th Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment, died instantly on November 27 when he stepped on the trigger of a bomb during a night patrol in Oruzgan Province, in which Australian commandos were searching for Taliban insurgent leaders.
An special forces major in charge of the operation in which Lieutenant Fussell died has been stood down from active command.
The Chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, issued two reports yesterday on the circumstances surrounding the death.
The inquiries found that shortcomings in ''track discipline'' during the patrol might have contributed to Lieutenant Fussell's death.
''The initial inquiry into the death of Lieutenant Fussell found that track discipline by the patrol in the minutes prior to his death was inadequate and that a number of the patrol members may have been in a position to stop an unsafe practice,'' Air Chief Marshal Houston said.
However, Air Chief Marshal Houston ordered a second report, by Vice-Admiral Christopher Ritchie, after the initial report found there were concerns about the unit's leadership.
''What is clear from Vice-Admiral Ritchie's report is that the risk of a casualty occurring in Afghanistan was increased in the deficiencies in training, assessment, certification and leadership identified by Vice-Admiral Ritchie,'' Air Chief Marshal Houston said.
The second report found there were ''deep-seated suspicions'' about the competence of the unnamed major in charge of the commando unit before it was deployed.
Admiral Ritchie reported that his inquiry ''established that [the major's] competence to act as [officer commanding] was the subject of concern by members of [the unit], a concern which was known by his immediate superiors prior to deployment.
''Following his arrival in the country, incidents occurred the day before Lieutenant Fussell's death and immediately thereafter which made the shortcomings of his leadership obvious.''
Air Chief Marshal Houston confirmed yesterday the major was still in the army, but said he had paid a high price.
''The worst thing that can happen to you in the military is to be removed from command,'' he said.
''All of us aspire to command and to be removed is indeed a drastic action, and it's a very difficult set of circumstances for the individual concerned.''
No findings were made in relation to the major's superior officers, with the failure to deal with command deficiencies being attributed to systemic problems.
Admiral Ritchie observed that the major's ''specific leadership shortcomings are really not his own making. They are the product of a system that has selected the wrong man for the job and then been unable to identify or correct its faults''. Meanwhile, Defence Minister John Faulkner is travelling to the United States this week to take part in further top-level talks on the war in Afghanistan.
Senator Faulkner will meet US Defence Secretary Robert Gates; the head of the US Central Command, General David Petraeus; and senior members of President Barack Obama's national security team. Senator Faulkner will be accompanied by Air Chief Marshal Houston and Defence Department secretary Ian Watt.
Eleven Australian soldiers have died in Afghanistan.