By most accounts, Ben Carson's first post-Paris attack interview did little to quell growing concerns that the political neophyte had failed to grasp a firm handle on major policy issues like national security, especially in light of a damning comedic SNL takedown of his embellished reformed bad boy shtick that's propelled him this far,

Carson struggled to articulate specifics for his plan to defeat ISIL during an interview on "Fox News Sunday." Host Chris Wallace asked the retired neurosurgeon three times to name one specific country or leader he would call to assemble an international coalition to no avail.

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“He’s been briefed on it so many times,” Armstrong Williams, close friend and advisor to Carson told the New York Times today. “I guess he just froze.” In an attempt to defend his friend, Armstrong said that he had spoken to Carson since his Fox News fumble, but bizarrely painted the candidate as even more inept than previously thought possible. “Sometimes he overthinks things,” Armstrong said, “I could tell, talking to him, it was a bummer for him.”

Another Carson aide told the paper that he suggested to the campaign that the candidate get weekly briefings to boost his foreign policy chops pronto. "Nobody has been able to sit down with him and have him get one iota of intelligent information about the Middle East,” Duane R. Clarridge, a former C.I.A. agent and top adviser to Carson on terrorism and national security, said in an interview with the Times.

Pardoned for his role in the Iran Contra affair, the former head of the CIA's Latin division said he recently called Williams to complain. “We need to have a conference call once a week where his guys roll out the subjects they think will be out there, and we can make him smart.”

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Carson has often referenced the intelligence briefings he does receive to bolster some of his most absurd claims. "I would have to refer you to some other people to get you the actual data, but they've shown it to me," he said the day after last week's GOP presidential debate, defending his claim that China is involved in the Syrian war. "We also must recognize that it's a very complex place. You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there," Carson said during the debate.