Major Garrett to W.H.: Does Obama Regret Not Listening to Panetta on Arming Syrians?

GARRETT: "Last night, former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said it would have helped to have armed Syrian rebels two years ago, which was the recommendation made to the president by good number of his national security advisors. Do you agree with that, and does president have any regrets for not doing that two years ago?"

EARNEST: "We have been really clear, Major, about the challenge here. The challenge of vetting elements of Syrian opposition is difficult work and the concern that the president had particularly early on, before these individuals could be vetted by national security professionals and some of our partners that have relationships in this part of the world, is that our weapons and training can fall into the hands of individuals who do not share our goals and who don’t share our interests and don't share the values of the United States of America. So what we had been engaged in is a longer-term effort to determine who are the Syrian opposition fighters that are fighting in Syria for their country and that they are fighting for the right reasons, for the reasons that would promote the kind of inclusive government that people of Syria would like to have. Over the course of the last three years, we've made tremendous progress in learning about these individuals. This is not fool-proof work here, but we made progress, we made strides in partnering with individuals and with elements in Syrian opposition. And those are the elements that after three years of working, vetting, and building relationships with them -- that we feel we can ramp up our training and assistance to them, in a way that will counter the advance of ISIL in Syria."