rice bowl

n. in the military, a jealously protected program, project, department, or budget; a fiefdom. Subjects: English, Military

Etymological Note: Perhaps related to the Chinese concept of the rice bowl as a metaphor for the basic elements required to live, as seen, for example, in the iron rice bowl, employment that is guaranteed for life.

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Citations: 1982 Richard Halloran @ Washington, D.C. New York Times (Nov. 23) “How Hornet Was Stripped Of Values It Began With”: But some also comes from an institutional, bureaucratic drive to have more airplanes and a bigger share of Navy and Defense Department budgets. “The air-systems people saw that whole program as a gigantic rice bowl they could put their hands into,” a critic in the Pentagon said. 1990 Fred Kaplan @ Washington, D.C. Boston Globe (July 29) “In House, bipartisan drive is growing to slash defense” p. 2: Gingrich pledged “to cooperate in any way I can on a bipartisan basis in really rethinking all of this” because the effort is “going to require not only reshaping the rice bowls at the Pentagon but breaking a few of them.” 1994 Aerospace Daily (Aug. 5) “Shalikashvili: Time to break ‘rice bowls’ in search of jointness” vol. 171, no. 25, p. 197: He acknowledged that “in every area” that joint operations become a key discriminator among requirements, “you begin to break some rice bowls…but it’s what needs to be done.” 1994 Defense Daily (Sept. 15) “Army Seeks Moral High Ground In Briefing To Roles Panel” vol. 184, no. 53,: Attempting to take the moral high ground in a debate that in the past has been characterized by high emotions as each service sought to protect its own “rice bowls,” the Army leadership avoided suggesting to the commission ways that the functions the military services perform could be restructured. 1997 Hal Gerhanoff Journal of Electronic Defense (Feb. 1) “Empty rice bowls” vol. 20, no. 2, p. 10: The composition of QDR architects is likely to produce another rubber-stamp picture of where spending priorities should remain, thus protecting the iron rice bowls of tactical air supremacy aircraft, carriers and subs, stealth platforms and those other expensive systems better suited to fight the last war than the next one. Complicating the eventual outcome even further is the recent formation of a National Defense Panel, an independent (theoretically, at least) oversight group whose charter is to critique the QDR and attempt to ensure that those rice bowls are made up of staff more malleable than iron, where this is in the national interest. 2001 Scott C. Truver United States Naval Institute: Proceedings (Oct. 1) “Where is the all-electric Navy?” vol. 127, no. 10, p. 99: To be sure, there remain hotbeds—maybe “rice bowls” is more apt—of interest in IED and IPS in and out of the Navy.…Several government officials conclude that Secretary Danzig’s corporate approach cannot work unless the service overcomes its penchant for rice bowls, and a single agency has the responsibility and authority to make decisions and allocate resources. 2005 Matt Wickenheiser Portland Press (Maine) (May 20) “Strategy X looks at the big picture”: But funding was sparse, and everyone had their own “rice bowl,” he said—a military term describing jurisdictional jealousy.

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Reader comments:

Please add law enforcement “speed/etc traps” to “Rice Bowls”.

It is an often used description for motor vehicle traffic zones that have questionable/not obvious restrictions on motor vehicles and motorists.

They appear to have more to do with fund raising than safety.

I’ve read that at least one community, on a state highway between two larger cities, abused motorists to the extent that a state law was passed to limit their income from traffic related fines to a certain percentage of their operating budget.
Examples:
- Highway #41 in North Ft. Meyers, FL.
- Anywhere in Pantego, or Dalworthington Gardens, TX

by drs 23 Aug 06, 0114 GMT

Anotherpossible origin of this metaphor - See “Sand Pebbles”; as When Holman refuses unnecessary services he could provide himself- e.g. a shave and is is rebuked with
Hey don’t take away his rice bowl.

by Steven Gale 22 May 08, 1059 GMT