Mail Isolation Control and Tracking

Mail Isolation Control and Tracking is a secret program of the United States Postal Service in which Postal Service computers photograph the exterior of every piece of paper mail that is processed in the United States. It enables the Postal Service to retroactively track mail correspondence at the request of law enforcement. It was created in the aftermath of the 2001 anthrax attacks that killed five people, including two postal workers.

The Federal Bureau of Investigations revealed the program on June 7, 2013 when discussing the Bureau's investigation of ricin-laced letters sent to U.S. President Barack Obama and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. The FBI stated in a criminal complaint that the program was used to narrow its investigation Shannon Guess Richardson.

Computer security and information privacy expert Bruce Schneier compared the program to National Security Agency programs leaked in June 2013 by Edward Snowden and said, "Basically they are doing the same thing as the other programs, collecting the information on the outside of your mail, the metadata, if you will, of names, addresses, return addresses and postmark locations, which gives the government a pretty good map of your contacts, even if they aren’t reading the contents."

James J. Wedick, a former FBI agent, said of the program, “It’s a treasure trove of information. Looking at just the outside of letters and other mail, I can see who you bank with, who you communicate with — all kinds of useful information that gives investigators leads that they can then follow up on with a subpoena.” He also said the program "can be easily abused because it’s so easy to use and you don’t have to go through a judge to get the information. You just fill out a form.”

See also

• Mail cover
• Mass surveillance