The former director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives authorized hundreds of thousands of dollars of questionable expenditures on a new ATF headquarters, personal security and other items, and he violated ethics rules by ordering 20 employees to help his nephew prepare a high school video project, according to an exhaustive report released today.

Carl J. Truscott, who previously served as head of President Bush's security detail at the Secret Service, also took several questionable trips with excessive numbers of accompanying ATF agents, including a $37,000 journey to London in September 2005 accompanied by eight other ATF employees, according to the report.

Truscott also ordered two female administrative staffers to prepare meals for visiting guests and required one of the employees to announce, "Lunch is served."

These and other findings by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine follow Truscott's abrupt resignation in August amid growing questions about his conduct.

The Washington Post reported in February that Truscott had allegedly authorized or proposed hundreds of thousands of dollars of unnecessary plan changes and upgrades to ATF's new 438,000-square-foot headquarters, which is behind schedule and millions over budget. Truscott took an unusually intense interest in the details of the project, holding regular staff meetings to discuss floor tiles, shower curtains and other details, The Post reported.

Fine's 157-page report confirms these allegations and many more, concluding that Truscott frequently broke regulations or exercised poor judgment in making decisions that had a serious impact on the ATF's operational budget, at a time when the agency was considering cutbacks in vehicles, bulletproof vests and other basics.