Several months ago, I had a conversation with a friend who had spent several years at a government agency in DC. Without getting into the details of that discussion, the upshot was that any government worker's value was a function of not 'What' the person knew but 'Who' else would know something that the indivdual could refer someone else to. Apparently, the function of government work is not to actually DO something that gets an issue resolved but to refer people who are seeking information or resolution to someone else who CAN get it done. Whoever becomes known as a 'matchmaker' this way becomes a more valuable commodity. So, the hoarding of information (in this agency, anyway) was not so much a matter of usable information but of referrals.
At least, that's how I think I remember it. In any event, the conversation revalidated for me why I never want to do government work.
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