Some advisers to Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson say he is struggling to grasp the complexities of foreign policy, his closest confidant said Tuesday, acknowledging their frustration while adding the political newcomer is making progress.
“I'd say he’s 75 percent of the way there,” said Armstrong Williams, Carson’s longtime business manager. “The world is a complex place, and he wants to get it right.”
A story published Tuesday by The New York Times quoted one of Carson’s advisers as saying the retired neurosurgeon, who is making his first run for public office, is having trouble understanding foreign policy despite intense briefings on the subject.
“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 CIA official, told the newspaper. Clarridge added that Carson needs weekly conference calls to brief him on foreign policy, so “we can make him smart.”
The Carson campaign reacted swiftly to the Times’ story, casting Clarridge in a statement as “an elderly gentleman” who isn’t part of Carson’s inner circle.
“He is coming to the end of a long career of serving our country. Mr. Clarridge’s input to Dr. Carson is appreciated, but he is clearly not one of Dr. Carson’s top advisers,” said Carson spokesman Doug Watts.
But Williams, who has no official role with Carson' campaign but regularly talks to the candidate, acknowledged in an interview with The Associated Press that advisers beyond Clarridge are distressed at the pace of Carson’s progress.
Williams estimates Carson has been spending “40 percent of his time” in foreign policy briefings in recent weeks.
“I know they’re frustrated,” Williams said of the team advising Carson. “They know that Dr. Carson is bright. He understands. ... There’s just so much there.”
For his part, Carson said Tuesday that he is treating his foreign policy education like medical education, diving into reading materials and discussions with experts with diplomatic and military backgrounds.
