Do you get a promotion for finding bin Laden?

• Author: Peters, Charles
• Position: TILTING AT WINDMILLS - Zero Dark Thirty - Brief article

Speaking of promotions, Maya did not get one. In case you've not seen Zero Dark Thirty, Maya is the name the movie gives to the CIA operative played by Jessica Chastain, who single-mindedly pursued her belief that al-Qaeda's network of couriers would eventually lead to the discovery of Osama bin Laden's hideout.

She was proven right, of course, but along the way, she managed to antagonize the many other CIA officers who were wrong.

The promotion she was denied was from GS 13 to GS 14. There are about 120,000 GS 14s in the civil service. In other words, it's not exactly a Congressional Medal of Honor-type distinction, but more an expected rite of passage for...