Washington ? The Army censured a retired three-star general Tuesday for a “perfect storm of mistakes, misjudgments and a failure of leadership” after the 2004 friendly-fire death in Afghanistan of Army Ranger Pat Tillman.

Army Secretary Pete Geren asked a military review panel to decide whether Lt. Gen. Philip Kensinger, who led Army special operation forces after the Sept. 11 attacks, also should have his rank reduced.

In a stinging rebuke, Geren said Kensinger “failed to provide proper leadership to the soldiers under his administrative control” when the Army Ranger and former pro football star was killed in 2004.

Geren said that while Kensinger was “guilty of deception” in misleading investigators, there was no intentional Pentagon cover-up of circumstances surrounding Tillman’s death – at first categorized by the military as being from enemy fire.

“He let his soldiers down,” Geren said at a Pentagon news conference. “General Kensinger was the captain of that ship, and his ship ran aground.”

Geren said he had directed a review panel of four-star generals to decide whether Kensinger, a three-star, should have his rank reduced. If Kensinger is demoted to major general, his monthly retirement pay of $9,400 would be cut by about $900, according to Army officials.

“Had he performed his job properly, had he performed his duty, we wouldn’t be standing here today,” Geren said.

Kensinger, who retired in February 2006, received a letter of censure from Geren that said he “subverted the trust” that had been placed in him and “caused lasting damage to the reputation and credibility of the U.S. Army.”

Geren said he considered recommending a court-martial for Kensinger but ruled it out.

Kensinger, whose line of authority included the Army Rangers, also failed to properly notify the Tillman family that a fratricide investigation had begun shortly after he was killed and did not initiate a required safety investigation.

Kensinger, a 1970 West Point graduate, was the top officer at Army Special Operations Command in Fort Bragg, N.C., from August 2002 through December 2005.

Geren’s actions fail to end a three-year controversy that has damaged the ground service’s image. Even as the Army’s top civilian was telling reporters he did not know exactly when he’d receive a recommendation from the review board on Kensinger’s rank, members of Congress were already judging whether the Army had gone far enough.

Today, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is having a hearing on Tillman’s death meant to help the panel determine who in the Pentagon knew what – and when.

Former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is scheduled to testify, said committee spokeswoman Karen Lightfoot.