http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/003613.php(WorldNetDaily Columnist Paul) Sperry notes that (acting director of the DOE's intelligence unit Thomas S.) Ryder (a man described as "a human resources manager with no intelligence experience" who was "close to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham") directly overruled his technical experts who wanted to dissent from the NIE findings on an Iraqi nuclear program.
Then after the NIE was published and just before the war began, Abraham awarded Ryder a $13,000 bonus for "exceeding performance expectations."
This was in addition to an earlier $7,500 bonus he awarded Ryder prior to the NIE's publication.
According to the last section of Sperry's second article ...
Bonuses that big are rare, and Energy insiders say they cannot recall previous intelligence chiefs receiving as much bonus money as Rider, who is said to be close to Abraham.
...
Yet despite Rider's alleged outstanding performance, Abraham didn't keep him in the top position. In February, he was replaced by CIA official John Russak. By July, Rider had been relocated to another department – energy assurance.So Spencer Abraham taps a friend for a position for which he seems to have no qualifications whatsoever. Then that friend overrules his technical experts to greenlight a finding that Iraq is building nuclear weapons. Then Abraham gives him a big bonus for outstanding performance -- performance so outstanding that he doesn't keep him on in the job.
(Note: parenthitical comments added by me to make the snip clearer)