Unless things at the CIA are much worse than I imagine, I suspect her “promotion” must have been a decision taken because she was useless as a Middle East analyst, and somebody noticed she was well-spoken, if a bit dippy, and might be able to read press-releases well.
(Not that any agency of the U.S. government seems to have what we really need on the Mid-East desks, actual orientalists who know the history of Islam in fair detail.)
Do you get the feeling that the “Mayas” and “Carrie Mathiesons,” if there are still any such types left at the CIA, would mop the floor with Marie Barf’s “nuanced” thinking?