The timing, the target, and the vector of attack all line up very nicely.
So, no reason at all to assume anything particular changed, except that people want to assume something -- because Trump.
The 'incompetent' comes from an apparent disregard of thinking about the consequences of his actions. The 'blowhard' is self-documented.
The staff can let it fail and place the blame on a rival
The staff can fail, and distract the president
The staff can fail, and blame a convenient political opponent.
The staff can succeed, in a few things, but not the whole remit. They can then spin it as a success
The task could be very complicated and would require multiple steps to achieve it.
But finally, the reason this fails as an argument - is that gutting the security apparatus of the state when you control it, is absurd.
The assumption for this to be non-absurd, is that the CIA is working against the government, and the constitution.
If that was the case, then following the constitution and declassifying their arsenal was not necessary in the least.
Essentially, the theory can be disproved by contradiction/occams razor.
You haven't disproved anything. You've stated an opposing viewpoint.
I haven't seen any evidence that leads me to believe that someone in the administration leaked this to harm the CIA, but nothing you said came close to proving that that's not what happened.
>the reason this fails as an argument - is that gutting the security apparatus of the state when you control it, is absurd
Your entire argument rests on the assumption that the hypothetical administration leakers will come to the same cost benefit conclusion you did. I can think of limitless situations in which covertly injuring the CIA may appear to be worth it to people within the administration.
The administration doesn't appear to trust the CIA and it's entirely possible they view them as an enemy to be dealt with rather than an asset to be controlled. Again I don't think this is the likely explanation, but it's not so unlikely that you can just throw out "occams razor I'll accept your concession now."
The plans aren't his.
I wonder whose hand is really stuck in that sock puppet.
People assume this needs mastermind-level capability. It just needs motive and capability. All it takes is one CIA defector or a previously existing plant.
I would think securing inside intel on other government institutions would be pretty standard. How else can you check that they're not compromised by Russians ;)
This is all conjecture, but this could be seen as a 'civil cyber war'. The Executive branch suffers from leaks, followed by an evisceration of the CIA hacking capabilities? Trumps love of the intelligence community is well known, and the scale of these leaks can be seen as a warning to the other agencies: the Executive branch will accept severe destabilization risks to protect itself.
Will be interesting to see if things escalate.