I don't have time to hunt up a lot of citations for this, but apparently, a couple of things are happening that may, or may not, be related. It seems that someone in the US government inserted a virus into the Russian power grid, and they (understandably) not happy. This occurred soon after it was reported that Russia had the capability to do the same to our power grid, although they had not actually done so. Keep in mind that a virus in the power grid of either country is not a simple prank. Computer models have shown that people would start to die within weeks if our power grid went down, so I think we can assume that the Russian experience would be similar. That the virus was inserted was leaked, which might give Russia the chance to correct the problem before this would occur, however. Was it leaked by someone who didn't agree that this was a good idea, or was leaking it a part of the plan from the start? Reportedly, this attack against Russia's power grid was done without the president's knowledge or consent, perhaps to pressure him into deeper conflicts with a country he had hoped to have good relationships with. There is now a shakeup in the Pentagon, with some high-level people leaving on short notice. I would guess that they were not given the option of staying, but I don't know if this is related, in any way, to the power grid virus. That seems to be something that the CIA would be involved in. Another possibility is that the high-level people at the Pentagon are in favor of a sustained war against Iran and that this is not something that Trump was in favor of. It might be understandable that top-level people in the military, who won't actually be the ones fighting the war, might be in favor of more war. So the shakeup might be intended to give Trump people who will be willing to be answerable to their commander-in-chief.
@Ken Anderson @Beth Gallagher Or, possibly untrue information released to justify removal of certain chosen high-ranking military people? The Russian spokesman said outsiders are always attempting to mess with their systems. Reality, I think, is that given the high degree of dependence today on the use of computer-run mega-systems such as power grids, could spell disastrous results from their widespread failure, as you stated. Frank
While I understand that we are supposed to accept that the rules are different for this president, but a president should not have to justify the removal of anyone in the Pentagon who isn't supportive of his agenda. That's why he's the commander-in-chief.
It could all be a false flag run by someone else. Just as any big-time hacker can make it look like Russia is tampering with us, they can make it look like we are messing with them. I do not take any hacking attributions at face value unless the source and the information obtained is made public...which seldom happens. I would say that perhaps SOMEONE hacked the Russian grid using apparently American viruses. It could be real, but more likely it was someone trying to stir things up between the U.S. and Russia. Perhaps China or Iran?
What would be the point of doing that to Russia at this time? We aren't in any major conflict with them. I wouldn't think it could be an isolated pentagon decision. Wouldn't it need serious approval by congress and .....? If anyone did it without approval, YES, I think they should be removed from their position.
That's still real, and it could just as easily (perhaps even more easily) be someone within the CIA or another agency, given that there are still people there who have been working against Trump for more than two years now. I doubt that it's a high school kid on his mom's computer.
The BBC story that @Beth Gallagher links to says that the hackers were a military group, and attributed the New York Times, which has apparently removed their story from their site after Trump accused them of treason.
Well, to my way of thinking, the New York Times did overstep propriety with that article. Why on earth would an American newspaper publish a story about clandestine activities of the US government?? "The NYT story was questioned by Thomas Rid, a political scientist from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, who said it made no sense because "publicity burns capabilities". The story would prompt Russia to search its power network extensively for malicious code, he said, making it likely that any viruses would be found."