Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), the ranking member on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, says Customs and Border Protection award last November of a $297 million contract to Accenture [ACN] to help with the hiring of new Border Patrol agents, CBP Officers, and Air and Marine Operations Officers shows it costs nearly $40,000 to hire each new agent or officer, excluding the related hiring expenses of CBP. She has asked CBP why it needs a contractor to help with hiring 5,000 additional Border Patrol agents, 2,000 new CBP officers, and 947 new Air and Marine Interdiction agents. She also says that the agency hasn’t reached its hiring goals and that the Border Patrol is losing agents to attrition faster than it can hire new ones.

Customs and Border Protection says a tethered aerostat deployed in the Rio Grande Valley sector was used in December in the interdiction of over 1,100 pounds of marijuana worth about $927,000. The operator of the surveillance balloon spotted an SUV headed south toward the Rio Grande and alerted agents who discovered the vehicle abandoned and loaded with bundles of the drug.

Little Caesars Arena, home of the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings and the NBA’s Detroit Pistons, has received SAFETY Act Certification from the Department of Homeland Security, making it the first combined NHL, NBA and entertainment venue to earn the certification. SAFETY Act Certification provides limited liability protections in case of a terrorist attack.