The practice of purging the ranks of "difficult" subordinates - people who question the wisdom of conventional thinking, who challenge their superiors, who do not automatically salute and say "yes sir, yes, sir, six bags full", when their superiors speak - over the years has produced a crop of senior officials long on form and short on substance. The long-term result of stifling dissent and discouraging unconventional views, while rewarding those who conform, is an officer corps that is sterile, stagnant, and predictable. Promoting clones, while purging mavericks, is tantamount to incest. We all know the possible long-term effect of generations of incest - feeblemindedness, debilitation, and insanity.

-- Colonel James G Burton, The Pentagon Wars (1992)