Homeland Security opening private
mail
MSNBC
By Brock N. Meeks
Chief Washington correspondent
MSNBC
Updated: 5:55 p.m. ET Jan. 6, 2006
WASHINGTON - In the 50 years that Grant Goodman has known and corresponded
with a colleague in the Philippines he never had any reason to suspect that
their friendship was anything but spectacularly ordinary.
But now he believes that the relationship has somehow sparked the interest
of the Department of Homeland Security and led the agency to place him under
surveillance.
Last month Goodman, an 81-year-old retired University of Kansas history
professor, received a letter from his friend in the Philippines that had been
opened and resealed with a strip of dark green tape bearing the words "by
Border Protection and carrying the official Homeland Security seal.
"I had no idea (Homeland Security) would open personal letters, Goodman told
MSNBC.com in a phone interview. "That's why I alerted the media. I thought it
should be known publicly that this is going on, he said. Goodman originally
showed the letter to his own local newspaper, the Kansas-based Lawrence
Journal-World.
"I was shocked and there was a certain degree of disbelief in the
beginning," Goodman said when he noticed the letter had been tampered with,
adding that he felt his privacy had been invaded. "I think I must be under some
kind of surveillance."
Goodman is no stranger to mail snooping; as an officer during World War II
he was responsible for reading all outgoing mail of the men in his command and
censoring any passages that might provide clues as to his unit's position.
"But we didn't do it as clumsily as they've done it, I can tell you that,"
Goodman noted, with no small amount of irony in his voice. "Isn't it funny that
this doesn't appear to be any kind of surreptitious effort here," he said.
The letter comes from a retired Filipino history professor; Goodman declined
to identify her. And although the Philippines is on the U.S. government's
radar screen as a potential spawning ground for Muslim-related terrorism,
Goodman said his friend is a devout Catholic and not given to supporting such
causes.
A spokesman for the Customs and Border Protection division said he couldn't
speak directly to Goodman's case but acknowledged that the agency can, will and
does open mail coming to U.S. citizens that originates from a foreign country
whenever it's deemed necessary.
"All mail originating outside the United States Customs territory that is to
be delivered inside the U.S. Customs territory is subject to Customs
examination," says the CBP Web site. That includes personal correspondence.
"All mail means ‘all mail,'" said John Mohan, a CBP spokesman,
emphasizing the point.
"This process isn't something we're trying to hide," Mohan said, noting the
wording on the agency's Web site. "We've had this authority since before the
Department of Homeland Security was created," Mohan said.
However, Mohan declined to outline what criteria are used to determine when
a piece of personal correspondence should be opened, but said, "obviously it's
a security-related criteria."
Mohan also declined to say how often or in what volume CBP might be opening
mail. "All I can really say is that Customs and Border Protection does
undertake [opening mail] when it is determined to be necessary," he said.
© 2006 MSNBC Interactive
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