I think we'd all agree that at the end of the day though, e.g., that BGO's are not in the chain of command or gatekeeper's for the CGO, they are supplementary extensions of the CGO/USNA.*
Actually, according to the Admissions Organization BGOs are in the Chain of Command to CGO. I understand what you are saying about going directly to the authoritative source for information and I am not telling any candidate there won't be times to directly contact Admissions. However, I advise my candidates that they should only go direct if it is an application issue that a BGO would have absolutely no control over (i.e. updating information, supplements, etc.), medical issues (DODMERB), and NAAA/recruiting/DI sports. I believe everything else should be ran through BGOs. If the BGO doesn't know, then the BGO normally informs the candidate to call Admissions or the BGO will ask their Area Coordinator or talk to Admissions.
If your BGO is not responsive or there is a time-sensitive issue, then that might be another reason to go to Admissions.
1.* Some BGOs communicate better than others, some are more knowledgeable than others, and everyone should take into account that all are volunteers and are typically living in their respective geographical location (not working on the Yard in the CGO) and usually have other full-time jobs/commitments.
True, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't give your BGO a chance to respond. As said above, if it becomes a theme, then that is a different situation.
When I said "official information or action related to your application," I meant, particular and confirmable, e.g., if your best SAT score isn't showing up on your CIS page and it's been four months since you submitted it, or you accidentally entered your math teacher's email in the field for for your English teacher's, or if you want to confirm USNA's receipt of your transcript, then IMHO, one ought to contact your RD to ensure things are set straight and on track (imagine the phone call in February, "But I called my BGO after New Year's, and he said he emailed you guys at the CGO and would get back to me, so how can you say it's too late?").*
As mentioned above, these types of issues should be dealt directly with Admissions. However, the original question dealt with an application policy vs. what is described in the paragraph above.
My point of my last two posts within this thread is to give your BGO a chance before you pick up the phone or email the Admissions Office (unless it deals with updating, supplementing, or the physical changing of some data field within the application or is time sensitive, medical, or DI sport). Not doing this keeps your BGO out of the loop, it bypasses him/her when he/she might have the information, and it keeps things at the lowest level so that Admissions isn't picking the phone up every 20 seconds (even though they are very much happy to).
I also understand not all BGOs operate in the same fashion, but you won't know that if you haven't contacted him/her 1-2 times to get that feeling or for him/her to tell you.