By JM Rieger and Megan Scully

One day after updating President Barack Obama on the efforts against the Islamic State terror group, Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter and retiring Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Martin E. Dempsey acknowledged before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that progress against ISIS has been slower than anticipated on several fronts. In Syria, the United States has trained only 60 members of the opposition, a number Carter conceded is “much smaller than what we hoped for at this point,” largely because of stringent vetting standards. “The number 60 is, as you all recognize, not an impressive number,” Carter said.