Next thing you know, the cheap seals in the bearings of your wheels leak because someone who was supposed to ensure QA was being applied to incoming parts pocketed the money instead. And your soldiers are freezing because someone else didn’t get them winter kit.

The corrupt leader has a dozen corrupt ministers who have a dozen corrupt public servants each managing a dozen corrupt upper management… until eventually Wade in Procurement pockets a few thousand dollarydoos by not paying employee Enum to test the seals for Quality Standard X… and ditto for the other dozen(s) under Wade’s department.

As the corruption grows, it becomes more blatant. The Wades trust one another less. Start watching their back. Become more siloed. Underlings start noticing the corruption from above. It starts to infect the workplace… right down to the guy who installs the seals and notices they’re not as beefy as the previous shipment, but doesn’t say anything to his manager because he’ll just catch shit. The guy who was runs the Personal Deploy Kit checklist ordered heavy mittens, got wool fingered gloves. It’s career-limiting to get that corrected. Boys aren’t invading anyway, it’s just exercises.

Unchecked criminality grows exponentially as it goes downchain.