others is that their egos are such that they'll rarely recognize even their own earlier studies...

Not to mention that they tend to produce answers sought by the requester or director of the study. I spent two miserable weeks at Santa Monica as the Army SME on a classified SDC effort; was treated politely, fed well, questioned thoroughly and worked with two sharp young analysts. The result was to undo much that had been done before my arrival; the real result was that the final product rejected most of my input and went back to what the study director had postulated out of his hip pocket before I arrived. Producing, according to the DCSOPS shop at DA, a product of less than marginal uitility. That's one example of many. Most think tank reports in my observation warrant some if not considerable skepticism...