As a civilian agency, NASA is organized somewhat differently than the Air Force. Its civilian field centers oftentimes remind one of the ancient Greek city-states, in that each has its own culture and competes with other centers at many levels to maintain and increase its share of the NASA budget. The first loyalty of field-center personnel is to their own center. As a general rule, NASA folks are not rotated to a new assignment every two to four years. Rather, it is not unusual to find some people who have spent their entire 30-year careers at NASA, working in the same job in the same office.
Most folks spend their entire career working at one center.
As the book describes, one of the great fears of the centers is that they will be closed. Thus, for these and other reasons, the cultural differences between NASA and the Air Force are profound. Reading the book may prove particularly interesting to people involved in the space program in Huntsville who may have known the people mentioned in the book. However, it may prove to be of only limited value to Air Force readers at large. One of the unavoidable reasons for this is that the authors name managers, personalities, and other government officials but give us only superficial background development.