CHAPTER TEN

Working a Mission-Critical Problem in a Federal Agency

Jac Fitz-enz

A federal agency that I will identify as Research Economic Services (RES) has been chartered by the U.S. Congress to conduct what industry would call “competitor intelligence.” This phrase implies that the agency should gather data on foreign countries that include economic, military, political, cultural, and other factors. The data are then formatted for a variety of purposes and distributed to many federal departments and agencies.

RES has been criticized in recent years for the quality, timeliness, and cost of its services. It has undergone studies by the General Accounting Office, Inspector General, House Select Committees, and outside consultancies, all of which ...

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