Like how do they find the company in the first place? Who connects SecDef Mattis with a blood test company?
what value do they gain out of being on it measurably? Equity? Salary?
and once there what do they really do?
Does Henry Kissinger really have a connection to the modern day FDA to move things along for Theranos?
They get jobs on these boards, because the owners of the company want them on the board, because they have friends who can grease the wheels in getting the DOD to buy services from this startup.
It's just plain-old corruption. As long as it's not formally quid-pro-quo, it's not illegal.
> Does Henry Kissinger really have a connection to the modern day FDA to move things along for Theranos?
He probably can't move the FDA, their process is too streamlined and public, and they may be under too much of a microscope, but he almost certainly has friends who can move some less-public/streamlined/visible processes - procurement.
Yup - as with Dropbox's tapping of Condoleeza Rice.
Lest we forget: https://www.drop-dropbox.com/