: Did they intend to frame Ben from the beginning?

: What's their motivation?

I don't think Sully intended for Ben to do anything outside his contract parameters. Interview the people Sully lined up for interviews, do some rough editing, and pass off his materials back to the ONI press office. No harm no foul, really. It's when Ben went out of his way to add a little cherry on top by finding other sources that he realized the Master Chief's narrative, as detailed by ONI, was all bullshit.

I'd say that Osman probably ordered her people to encourage Ben's social suicide at the earliest when she noticed him looking in all the wrong places and at the latest when he hacked into the Senate Armed Forces Committee hearing. CINCONI is far too unforgiving to let things just keep fucking up until the last second.