Always counterattacking after being undermined is unavoidable, because the enemy never notifies Gao Guang before taking action.
It's easy to dodge the open spear but hard to guard against the hidden arrow. Since it's a scheme, it certainly must be well concealed.
It was a quirk of fate that just by adding an extra intelligence service for the Tiren Formation, although they couldn't completely avoid the ambush, they discovered the plot in time. Then Lloyd decisively pressured the competition, and that was the key to Leonid and his team's survival.
If the ambush wasn't identified as the Pentagon's handiwork, but was thought to be an inadvertent kill by the Airin Formation, there would have been no way to argue their case.
So the Pentagon's conspiracy was quite good, well-planned, and executed impeccably.