Pros
Once you get in, it's stable semi-government job. The people are genuinely good, some of the brightest minds, especially the young ones. Ability to do transnational research that falls in the valley of death. Research that is not applied enough for industry, but not interesting enough for academia. If you want work life balance, get in and cruise along. Its a semi-govt job, iron rice bowl. You also get to work closely with government agencies and make some real impact.
Cons
It is not a place for the exceptional. The incredibly rigid system does not allow for high performers. If you do really well, you will not be rewarded, not even with a "good job". You may end up doing 2-3 levels above your job scope and 2x the amount of work, and deliver for more than 2 years, and have external offers. But the system is opaque and cannot recognise high performers. It assumes everything is normal. This means they are loosing excellent talent, and the main people who stay are not that great at best. And because they cannot fite people, they end up keeping less competent people and competent people get "rewarded for good work with more work".