So you head to THE security conference in the Western World and get yourself on multiple panels to discuss foreign policy. Then proceed to bomb a rather obvious question on one of the THE biggest security topics on the radar today.

Yes, she clearly failed to be adequately prepared. If the goal was to show that she has foreign policy chops, that was a blunder.

But part of becoming a Les Aspin or a Sam Nunn or whomever is starting off green. Everyone starts off new to foreign policy at some point. Everyone who aspires to a job that involves going to national security conferences will have their first non-trivial role in a national security conference. Everyone has to learn how to do the job(s) they want to eventually do. She's just turned 36. If she one day wants to have a role in a field that involves having more national security expertise, she's got tons of time to do it - and she'll have to start off new and raw, and she's going to make flubs.

So, again - this doesn't mean she's dumb. It doesn't mean she's an idiot. It just means she tried to do something without being completely prepared to do it well.