Agreed. Usually the motivation to have someone like Rice on your board, is to have more government connections, for the purpose of not doing what the government

Agreed. Usually the motivation to have someone like Rice on your board, is to have more government connections, for the purpose of not doing what the government wants. i.e. Influencing the government, as opposed to it influencing you. Edit: Admittedly this can be a bargain with the devil, and backfire.