The federal Chemical Safety Board now on the explosion site in Danvers was criticized six years ago for mismanagement, wasteful spending and conflicts of interest.

A 2000 report by the U.S. General Accounting Office said the chemical safety agency spent $636,000 for a computer program it might never use, relied too heavily on outside contractors for investigations and allowed a board member to investigate an accident at his former employer's company.

The report, Chemical Safety Board - Improved Policies and Additional Oversight Are Needed, claimed the agency's board of directors was so plagued by infighting that Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond of Missouri said he might advocate disbanding the agency.

However, a spokesman for the Chemical Safety Board yesterday called the GAO report "ancient history."

Daniel Horowitz said he was not familiar with the specifics of the report because it was issued before he joined the agency. But he said the Chemical Safety Board has gone through "two complete turnovers" of its board of directors since then.

"Those (GAO) recommendations all closed years ago," Horowitz said.

The Chemical Safety Board is run by a five-person board of directors appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The agency, which has 45 employees and a $9.1 million budget, was authorized by the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 and became operational in 1998.

Former board member Jerry Poje said yesterday the agency addressed all of the problems the GAO cited six years ago.

"I don't think any of it applies now," he said. "That was, in my mind, a startup problem of a brand-new federal agency. I think almost all of those problems have been successfully solved."