Schneier on Security

65535 • August 18, 2015 8:12 PM

@ GregW

“Sai mentioned different programs for mail cover vs. mail imaging vs. mail ICT (interdiction control and tracking- for hazardous materials). Where does the NSA interdiction fit into those buckets, or is that a fourth undisclosed program? Or is it a covert op feeding off one of the three?” –GregW

Good questions.

This article and USP inspectors report raise more questions. I am late to this thread I will just add my observations:

1] This ‘Inspectors report’ doesn’t cover large private package services like UPS or Fedex which I would guess have the same mail imaging capabilities and work with the US government. My guess is from released slides showing some NSA facility implanting bugs in Cisco routers [or similar electronic devices]. The NSA must have gotten notice of the item being shipped before interdiction – unless all mail and packages are subject to NSA interdiction. Hence, some “pre- nterdiction” tip must have come from somewhere.

2] Mail sorting and imaging is probably the starting point. I am under the assumption that the United States Postal Service [or USPS] uses imaging and/or character recognition to route most mail. Mail that cannot be read by imaging/OCR/or bar code readers is then collected and given to a real person to properly read and route. Both probably lead to some type of recording process such as imaging and the like. The USPS knows the total number of mail item sent each year thus records are needed. The image/OCR/barcode reader must have a backend database to route the mail items [and is probably accessible by the NSA].

3] It is not clear what the scope of the “inspector’s audit” covered. Page 4 of the pdf report states several different numbers. ‘49,000 Mail covers’, ‘928 mail covers in the active status after the cover period ended’, Note 2 pdf page 7 ‘official requested 41,760 and 6,391 criminal mail covers’, ‘1000 special mail covers (SMC) were processed by the Postal inspection Service Headquarters. We did not analyze about 34,000 system-generated approved requests that did not require CISC review’, page 8 of the pdf, ‘We reviewed a statistical sample of 196 of 6,391 external law enforcement mail cover requests [which I assume are only the criminal part and not the entire subset – ed]’, page 8 pdf note 5, ‘The sample did not include internally generated criminal mail covers initiated by postal inspectors’, so there are various ‘mail cover’ sets which were not audited.

4] There seems to be an undisclosed number of Log Sites as mentioned on page 10 of the pdf, ‘For example, at the Logan Station in Philadelphis, PA, officials could not locate the original mail cover resquest…’. Which leads to the question of exactly how my of these log sites exist. Do all mail stations image and potentially log mail?

5] Note 12 of page 10 of pdf indicates, ‘Handbook AS-303, Classified National Security information Program’, which clearly indicates the NSA is involved in the recording of mail to an unknown extent.

6] Apendenix D: Mail Cover Process, last box says, ‘Closed files are stored at the Federal Records Center for 8 years and then destroyed’. So, what happens to an opened ended investigation?

7] Also, Apendix D above doesn’t clearly indicate where the first recording or imaging of mail starts for all mail imaging programs. I understand it deals only with the LEA subset of criminal mail cover requests. What are the true number of mail cover recordings of both the USPS and of private packager services like UPS and Fedex?

See pdf for citations:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzmetJxi-p0VOExOZGo2V1ktWHM/view?pli=1