SAFe is literally just Waterfall with extra steps (agile ceremonies) and it's mind numbingly stupid.

I thought I was the only one who admitted SAFe is waterfall just with the right buzzwords to avoid the agile police.

It's because DoD contracts require or greatly favor "agile" practices via CMMI and ISO certs. Government employees are too incompetent to understand how the big 5 simply pull the wool over their eyes, like they do for everything.

So, there's a for-profit company selling the SAFe "process"? Does this have something to do with filling in new government checkbox requirements for contractors?

https://scaledagileframework.com/

Yes, that's literally why it exists.