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Qualfied linguists, especially those who can (or almost can) pass as part of the community they are translating, are like hen's teeth.
They are considered as valuable assets no matter how close to being nuts, treasonous, or socially/physically unfit for duty.
When assigned to one detached unit overseas I remember two that I trusted and four I would not trust with an order for lunch. The two I trusted were both born in the area we were concerned with, the others a mix.
I think at least one simply disappeared after discharge outside the US.

As good as the Monterey language school is deemed to be, most Americans are lousy linguists.
Plus, it is not likely that a North Korean agent would slide up to a caucasian who smells like dial and hamburgers just to start a conversation over nuclear missile dispositions.
(Well, maybe to cage a couple of Salems from him.)

On the other hand, there is no way that I'd trust any American born "student of Islam/believer in the Koran/PHD candidate in muslim history" etc. to be anything other than a brainwashed fellow traveler.
Education in another belief system or culture is faulty and usually roomantic unless it's been achieved largely on-site; knowledge at long range is a non-sequiter.
Besides, the level of reasoning displayed by students in US schools tells me that they are overwhelmingly prone to faling in love with their subject matter.