If the money isn’t an issue, then why is the entire article about the money? For example:
> The contract, run through the Mitre Corp., is the vehicle that allows the Jasons to do work with other parts of the government as well. Without it, the group has no way of getting the several million dollars in funding it needs to operate annually.
I got the impression that the money isn't all salaries. They need the funds to help with the research they do with the various agencies. Do they have staff during the summer meetings who assist? Do the agencies they work for need money to provide the information the Jasons need to do a study for them? The article doesn't have enough information to answer these questions, nor does it imply that the money all goes into their pockets.
Several million dollars is not a lot of money for a group this size. We're talking "travel to annual meetings and fund administrative overhead (e.g. security clearances are not cheap)" money.
There's "not in it for the money", and then there's "dipping into my personal funds".
Also, again, for many of these scientists, 1MM+ is the annual opportunity cost they pay to stay in academia/public sector vs. private industry. If they were in it for personal payout, they'd have jumped ship a long time ago.
> The contract, run through the Mitre Corp., is the vehicle that allows the Jasons to do work with other parts of the government as well. Without it, the group has no way of getting the several million dollars in funding it needs to operate annually.