Not to mention the stupidity of developing what would surely be the least useful bioweapon in history (most people of fighting age get mild and brief symptoms or no symptoms, but it's infectious enough to get back to your own population and kill similar proportions of your own vulnerable before you figure out how to deal with it)
When everyone thinks the other guy is responsible for something and no one really is, when promotion is mainly determined by office politics, when departments that should work together compete with each other, you get levels of stupidity that is difficult to achieve by an individual.
Government entities tend to be even worse. At least companies have a clear goal they can always refer to: profit. Governments follow the whims of the political ideas of the moment.
> In this case, the malice explanation demands stupidity because it was released in their own city.
Lenin said that "if for the sake of Communism it is necessary for us to destroy 9/10ths of the people, we must not hesitate". Tito killed 1% of his country's population. Stalin killed or starved 20 million. Mao killed or starved 60 million. Pol Pot killed or starved 25% of his country's population.
In this case, the malice explanation demands stupidity because it was released in their own city. Not sure what Hanlon would say about that.