In my personal experience, the same behavior has been exhibited at one time or another by nearly every agency charged with negotiating responsibility.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: The FS-X Agreement

At one point or another, everybody tries to justify their participation in behavior that defies common sense and good judgment by claiming that someone else, usually older and putatively smarter, told them to do it.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: The Denuclearizers' Bridge-jump