"Paid to be paranoid" is a common phrase among long-time employees. You might think this means that they are paid to protect the weapons and vehicles they build. What it actually means is that they will protect the status quo at all costs, including redundant work, no technology to perform basic/common functions, etc. When challenged as individuals (e.g., performance) or culturally (e.g., program performance, cost containment, etc.), they attempt to remove the "threat". This is a well-oiled script amongst LM employees that primarily consists of "anonymous" reports to Ethics, various Vice Presidents, and the CEO. The allegations don't have to be true. Since LM is absolutely opposed to even the potential appearance of impropriety, an employee can experience serious consequences for the potential and appearance of improper behavior (it doesn't have to have actually occurred) and/or the behavior of people they associate with even if they never engaged in the behavior or endorsed it. This applies anywhere and anytime regardless of whether employees are at work, at a public place before/after work, or at home. The consequences for perceived, potential and real offenses are recommended by Ethics and Human Resources but ultimately determined by the employee's leader regardless of what the leader says when they dole them out. The use of ethics to harass others, along with other behaviors that were just as disturbing and controlling, made it a priority to pursue a significantly different work environment. I do not want to administer Human Resources in a place where humans spend a significant amount of time harassing each other under socially acceptable systems such as ethics and employee relations, and believe it is normal. We are long past the Industrial Revolution, but they aren't culturally.
