This specific story was a friend working for a large defense contractor. I've never worked directly for a defense contractor, but know enough people that have that I should note that culture varies greatly from site to site; different sites of very large companies might as well be different companies (and in many cases were different companies before being purchased).
That sort of thing also varies with perceived team performance. If your team is perceived by upper mid-management (or higher) as being "good" then individuals on the team have more freedom. If your team is perceived as being "not good" then every deviation from standard practices is clearly the cause of the poor team performance.
This sounds like something I'd see in a Dilbert comic. Do you mind sharing what industry you work in? Perhaps you saw this in old-fashioned industries like banking or insurance? Have you experienced this in tech?