Here's a quote from an Italian newspaper...re: four deputies in intelligence services were asked to resign yesterday. I thought the sentence here was quite interesting.
"The facts reported, if confirmed, appear to be of absolute gravity, providing for the application of a system of rigid spoil system and a real political subdivision applied to the intelligence system, which is entrusted with the security of our country" reads in the question, where it is underlined that "such behavior would risk not only to question the operational efficiency of our intelligence systems in a very delicate moment, but also to destroy their credibility in the precious international information network, which finds its fundamentals in professionalism, independence and in the absence of political interests in the heads of the secret services of the countries to which we are connected ".
(You'll likely need to use your browsers translation features.)
Interrogazione al premier dei senatori dem Zanda e Pinotti: "Spoil system precedente grave". La notizia svelata oggi da Repubblica
www.repubblica.it