re: Woodward gives his opinion on how Compliance should work...

He's absolutely right. This is what any sort of compliance department should be doing. Saying No is easy for them. They don't risk anything that way. Too often they are allowed to take the easy way out. Leaders who are too disengaged, cowardly and/or incompetent (Alleva) allow them to get away with it. But it doesn't help the organization as a whole to just shut things down all the time.