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> Tenured federal employees have little reason to hide the impropriety of an elected official; on the contrary, they can get a cash bonus for reporting the malf

> Tenured federal employees have little reason to hide the impropriety of an elected official; on the contrary, they can get a cash bonus for reporting the malfeasance! They have a very big reason: Appearing disloyal - the cardinal sin - and never working in Washington or anywhere near it again. I hope that cash bonus is a big one.

linkregister 10y ago
By this statement, it appears you don't have any first hand experience with federal employment or the intelligence community.
- hackuser 10y ago
  I could say the same of you, but it would be equally worthless to the discussion. Perhaps you can offer something besides attacks on the commenter, which are useless and damaging to discourse.
  - linkregister 10y ago
    Fine, I'll put it in the more diplomatic: "Please substantiate your conjecture with data. It contradicts my personal experience, that of my personal network, and the things I've read in newspapers and magazines." By the way, I usually enjoy your posts, just not that one. In a second reading of my comment, it contains way more snark than I had intended when I wrote it. I deserved to be called out.
    - hackuser 10y ago
      Thanks for your kinds words. I'm a little surprised to be recognized! I know that's normal in a community but I just wasn't thinking about it. All I can say is ... ... I know some people who work for government. In the last few hours, in fact, I was telling one about our conversation and they were surprised that there was any debate - they thought it would clearly be a career-ending move, and the only reward they knew of was around $3,000 (and if there are other rewards, what does it say that they don't know?). They said the only thing they can imagine you are referring to is that whistle blowers on government contract corruption in certain circumstances get a percentage of the contract or savings, which could be a lot and potentially worth losing a career and all the other institutional penalties that will come down on them too. ... It matches my lifelong experience and observations of every institution and industry, and what I believe is common knowledge of everyone in one. The worst thing you can do is be disloyal; you will be blackballed, your reputation may be smeared, and you may be investigated for every paperclip anyone is willing to allege that you wasted or used for personal reasons, etc. As one example, priests worldwide in the Catholic Church obviously knew raping children would be overlooked, but not one (afaik; certainly very few) dared to report it. Many at Penn State knew about Sandusky raping children; none dared to report it to police and several openly said they feared for their careers and reputations if they did. The first people to report it, a mother and her victimized son, faced such community retaliation (in Penn State's college town) that the local police prepared a witness protection program for them - for a raped child! - and those weren't even employees. University trustees who took action on the issue were voted out of office by angry alumni. Stomach-turning, but that unfortunately is human nature very often.

linkregister 10y ago

By this statement, it appears you don't have any first hand experience with federal employment or the intelligence community.

hackuser 10y ago
I could say the same of you, but it would be equally worthless to the discussion. Perhaps you can offer something besides attacks on the commenter, which are useless and damaging to discourse.
- linkregister 10y ago
  Fine, I'll put it in the more diplomatic: "Please substantiate your conjecture with data. It contradicts my personal experience, that of my personal network, and the things I've read in newspapers and magazines." By the way, I usually enjoy your posts, just not that one. In a second reading of my comment, it contains way more snark than I had intended when I wrote it. I deserved to be called out.
  - hackuser 10y ago
    Thanks for your kinds words. I'm a little surprised to be recognized! I know that's normal in a community but I just wasn't thinking about it. All I can say is ... ... I know some people who work for government. In the last few hours, in fact, I was telling one about our conversation and they were surprised that there was any debate - they thought it would clearly be a career-ending move, and the only reward they knew of was around $3,000 (and if there are other rewards, what does it say that they don't know?). They said the only thing they can imagine you are referring to is that whistle blowers on government contract corruption in certain circumstances get a percentage of the contract or savings, which could be a lot and potentially worth losing a career and all the other institutional penalties that will come down on them too. ... It matches my lifelong experience and observations of every institution and industry, and what I believe is common knowledge of everyone in one. The worst thing you can do is be disloyal; you will be blackballed, your reputation may be smeared, and you may be investigated for every paperclip anyone is willing to allege that you wasted or used for personal reasons, etc. As one example, priests worldwide in the Catholic Church obviously knew raping children would be overlooked, but not one (afaik; certainly very few) dared to report it. Many at Penn State knew about Sandusky raping children; none dared to report it to police and several openly said they feared for their careers and reputations if they did. The first people to report it, a mother and her victimized son, faced such community retaliation (in Penn State's college town) that the local police prepared a witness protection program for them - for a raped child! - and those weren't even employees. University trustees who took action on the issue were voted out of office by angry alumni. Stomach-turning, but that unfortunately is human nature very often.