I didn't mean it that way, sorry. People at NASA are still extraordinarily smart. The number of those smart people is different. NASA right now has approx direct 17k employees and approx 60k contractors. Back in the times of the Apollo program, there were 36k direct employees at NASA with > 350k contractors.
Also, it seems to me that NASA is involved in far more programs right now than it was back in the times of the Apollo program. Which isn't a bad thing in itself, but of course each program itself has smaller scope.
This is partially because we outsource so much work, but yes, we simply do not have the budget to get anyone and everyone we'd want. The A-for-administration is becoming a more important role in shipping tax dollars to R&D and C-for-cots.
They are involved in far more programs than they were during the Apollo era. I'd much rather see NASA stay involved in these other areas (e.g. planetary sciences/exploration) than throw everything into a manned mission to the moon to 'make merica great again' a la 1960s style.
I agree with the fact that we are spreading bucks over more planets. I'd love to see a concerted incestment in a consistent strategic direction with a tangible milestone.
But at the same time, there's lots of exciting stuff going on.
See Figure 1-4 in this PDF: https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4012v1.pdf#page=15
Also, it seems to me that NASA is involved in far more programs right now than it was back in the times of the Apollo program. Which isn't a bad thing in itself, but of course each program itself has smaller scope.