Defense Secretary Ash Carter has acknowledged the Obama administration’s program to train and equip “moderate” Syrian rebels currently has just 60 vetted candidates. Speaking before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Carter said the trainees have been subjected to intense screening.

Ash Carter: “We’re also in the early stages of our train-and-equip mission in Syria. Three months into our program, training is underway, and we are working to screen and vet almost 7,000 volunteers to ensure that they are committed to fighting ISIL, pass a counterintelligence screening and meet standards prescribed by U.S. law regarding the law of armed conflict and necessitated by operations. As of July 3rd, we are currently training about 60 fighters. This number is much smaller than we had hoped for at this point, partly because of the vetting standards I just described.”

The Syrian rebel training program cost $500 million for this year.