A bit long but well worth the insight delivered!-----The Curious Case of FDA's Dr. Peter Marks

A case study in scientific bureaucrat incompetence and entitlement - Robert W Malone MD, MS

The Peter principle is a concept in management developed by Laurence J. Peter which observes that people in a hierarchy tend to rise to "a level of respective incompetence"...

• Why should you care about the curious case of Dr. Peter Marks, MD, PhD? 
• The recently resigned head of the FDA Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER)? Because Dr. Peter Marks provides an excellent case study of what happens when the government settles for acceptable instead of excellent in scientific administrator (bureaucrat) positions.

It is hard to find experienced, top-tier minds to fill government jobs. 

The salary is about 2/3 or less of comparable positions in industry, particularly in the pharmaceutical industry.  

Lots of risk if the administrator veers away from standardized processes. 

There is little opportunity for innovation or discovery. 

Great minds crave independence.
What a senior job in government does provide is power and status...