From the beginning, the overall philosophy of the PGC has been to be as inclusive, democratic, transparent, and rapid as possible. No single individual or group dominates. The role of the coordinating committee is to adjudicate procedural issues of relevance to the whole consortium (e.g., to integrate efforts of the working groups and to secure the needed resources). A metaphor for the relationship between the coordinating committee and the working groups is the recurrent theme of United States history, the tension between Federalism and “states’ rights”. The belief is that the best science will emerge if the balance is decidedly shifted towards “states’ rights”. The “federal” coordinating committee has a non-intrusive and facilitating role and all other decisions are delegated to the scientists who understand the issues best. There are often differences of opinion. These are almost always resolved by discussion. Rarely, discussion did not lead to resolution and necessitated a vote (simple majority, one vote per group contributing data).
