The US Defense Department confirmed it has a team of military advisers training the Pakistani army in counter-insurgency operations but said the program has been openly discussed for months, rejecting a newspaper report suggesting it was a "secret" project. "The training effort with the Pakistan Frontier Corps is not a secret," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman, referring to a New York Times report. He said there were about 30 advisers involved in a "train the trainer" program with the Frontier Corps, in which Pakistani soldiers undergo instruction from US officers and then go on to train their own troops operating in the restive border area. The program was designed to "help the Frontiers Corps develop its own training program in counter-insurgency techniques." He would not confirm or deny that the advisers were mainly from US Army Special Forces, as reported by the newspaper.