It will surprise no one posting on the Military aviation forums that operational requirements must sometimes superseed normal operational safety requirements. I spent a good few years in a job where balancing safe operation, carrying snags, was balanced against peacetime operating norms. It strikes me that this young man has decided that the indifference of his superiors to his "reports" meant he felt strongly enough to go public with them. How much simpler this would have been if his concerns were dealt with in a serious manner, and answered properly, instead of what appears to be telling him to "wind his neck in" as it was above his pay grade. But then, shooting the messenger is nothing new.
Smudge