File photo of a Border Patrol agent.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

Border Patrol is losing more agents than it can replace, causing “significant challenges” in hiring and training new personnel.

Two eye-opening reports from the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security and the Government Accountability Office underscore the difficulties of meeting ambitious hiring goals set by President Trump, the Los Angels Times reports. 

The GAO report indicates that staffing levels fall below the 2011 congressional mandate of 21,370 agents. As of May, the agency had 19,500 agents, or 1,870 fewer than required.

Between 2013-16, Border Patrol hired an average of 523 agents a year to replace the annual exodus of 904.

The reports indicate fewer agents are hired because of better pay at competing agencies, a difficult hiring process that requires a polygraph exam and assignments that involve working in remote location near the border.

Other Stories of Interest

• What Mueller’s Org Chart Reveals about His Investigation
• FBI Seeks to Increase Diversity Among Agents
• Editorial: Gun Checks, Mental Health, Add to Debate
• Boris Johnson Met ‘London Professor’ Linked to FBI’s Russia Probe
• Lincoln’s Spy: How Pinkerton Laid Found for CIA, FBI

The bottom line was: the government was lax, and consequently people lost millions. Maybe if there were consequences for those lax people– like a big fat fine — others might not be so lax in the future.

Bernie Madoff

By Greg Farrell and Brooke Masters
The Financial Times

Bernard Madoff’s $65bn Ponzi scheme was able to evade detection for years partly because auditors and regulators failed to double-check the information his firm gave them, court documents filed in the case of Madoff lieutenant Frank DiPascali suggest.

Mr DiPascali, 52, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to 10 criminal charges and is co-operating with prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Based partly on his information, US authorities filed documents alleging how

Mr Madoff repeatedly deceived regulators and auditors with fake documents and false explanations that they apparently never questioned.

For Full Story