Applied directly online. Was contacted out of the blue by someone in HR. The conversation went a little too long but the interviewer was friendly. Then scheduled a follow-up 30-minute phone call with a technical team leader. Had to also speak with the group director before an on-site interview would be scheduled. An all day interview proceeded from 8-5, meeting with policy researchers, programmers, and other technical staff. Understandably this was around the holidays so scheduling may have not been ideal. Some were in person but many were using video conference or phone calls to other offices. It was nice of them to treat me to lunch. It sounds like they have had difficulty attracting/retaining technical and younger employees. The workplace atmosphere was very quiet and most employees had been there 10+ years. I believe the majority of the team was located in other offices around the country. 2 weeks following the interview they were still dithering with background checks (may have needed a security clearance) and references. I had a better offer where the benefits were better and felt more appreciated. The inflexible interview process made me feel like this was a top heavy institution. Researchers seem to hold all of the power because they bring in the money. Software engineers don't want to worry about the internal labor market experiement.