Easily. My Uncle-In-Law, working for GSA, spent some weeks without pay because he was given the choice of "do it politically or find a new job after 25 years". He was convicted of "doing it" and everyone involved knew the whole procedure was a farce, but he lost a few weeks pay anyway. This was in 1981.

A cousin-in-law is reasonably high up in EPA. She's been told to effectively shut down the Superfund Sites program, among other things. Since she has a troubled kid, she and her husband need what money they can gather.

If you want to fix the mess in the intelligence community, you'd better be ready to fight long and hard -- 'cause this is the same damned turf war that was fought and effectively lost by Harry Truman et al.