self-licking ice cream cone n. a process, department, institution, or other thing that offers few benefits and exists primarily to justify or perpetuate its own existence. Also in the form self-licking lollipop. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Cat hair may be something you brush off, but cat hair is also a slang term that means “money.” In the same way, cat beer isn’t alcoholic — some people use cat beer as a joking term for “milk.” And imagine walking on a...
Have you ever googled your own name and found someone else who goes by the very same moniker? There’s a word for that: googleganger. Plus, the language of hobbyists and enthusiasts: If you’re a beekeeper, perhaps you call yourself a...
There’s a reference to this term in Richard Clarke’s book Against All Enemies. Right after the 9/11 attacks, Clarke and another staffer were walking between buildings at the White House: the other one said to Clarke “there’s your self-licking ice-cream cone” (in this case he meant ‘now that these attacks have happened, we’ll finally get some attention on bin Laden, al Qaeda, etc. In other words, our relevance is more than obvious now.’ Note the slightly different use than those cites above.)