Presumably in the military you are told to obey the rules, never ever promote something that could be better and then you’ll end up as the Chief of Defence. What other explanation can there be?
Dick,
I think that you can apply this to most things to do with anything government related. There have been many layers of management, command,etc created to insulate the 'status quo' and protect those at the top.
Having personally seen and been subject to, 'the wrath of management questioned' I can understand why people are hesitant to promote any new ideas or question anything management do.