
82 SEVEN SECRETS FOR NEGOTIATING WITH GOVERNMENT
nese bureaucrats and officials. American officials at all levels can
act in the same way when they believe their authority has been
challenged because you apparently have ignored them.
Settling FightsatCity Hall
If intragovernmental fights and struggles are a constant phenome-
non within bureaucracies, how are those struggles resolved?
Often, they are not settled at all but become a permanent feature
of bureaucratic life. As a result, a state of bureaucratic dysfunction
develops that can have devastating consequences for a society, as
did the conflicted relationship between the FBI and the CIA before
9/11.