Very good research infrastructure - Postdoctoral Fellow National Cancer Institute Employee Review

nice projects and great science

slow and nonsensical bureaucracy. no flexibility in pay

You don't have to necessarily apply for grants to run your experiments, each lab has a budget and you can spend a lot of money for very ambitious (and expensive) work, if your lab has the funds

You depend on the government completely. If there is a shutdown, you aren't working. If priorities change, then research priorities change as well...