Question: Is this because all Microsoft's competitors, licensees, and suppliers are too scared to tell the government what they know?
Companies are not afraid to speak to government regulators.

Answer: no

Question: This was in no way unusual for me.
This happened to me often.

Answer: yes

Question: The program plans to build, develop, and test six additional development units during 2002 and 2003 that will incorporate design changes to fix the system failures.
The design changes in the program were critical to preventing failure.

Answer:
it is not possible to tell