POUCH COMMUNICATIONS - - MAIL SECURITY THREATENED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83-01022R000100070002-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 17, 2000
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: May 25, 1970
• Content Type: MF

Approved For Release
P83-010'9R0001b070b5
25 May 1970
MEMORANDUM FOR: DC/0S/ALT/TR
FROM: Chief, -
SUBJECT: Pouch Communications -- Mail Security Threatened
1. I enclose an Associated Press article by James R. Polk, which
appeared in the Mount Vernon Daily Argus on 21 May 1970, entitled "U.S.
Mail Security Threatened by Pilfering Postmen". The article reviews
thefts by postal employees and reports; '"Registered mail, because of
its value, has become an acute problem area for postal officials".
25X1A2g 2. .ADQUARTERS communications have moved by registered
mail for the ten ears that I have been here without a single hhitch
in either dire. The article, while stressing that mom is the
pr lure in the pilfering, has nevertheless given me considerable
concern over its implications. We do not send monde in our pouches.
But once a pilferer has opened our pouch in expectation of money,
finds none, but does find some interesting literature, then what?
3. Remote though the chances of hitting one of our pouches (out
of 82 billion pieces of mail yearly) may be, the concentration on
registered mail as a target is what worries me. It is now, it seems
to me, time to consider alternative methods of communication.
4. For example: How do other units
communicate? Does any one of them have a courier run? If yes, can
we join them, adding our small pouch to the courier s load? We would
certainly arrange our pouching schedule to conform to that of the
courier.
25X1A2g
25X1A6a
5. With reference to paragraph four above, I recall that many
years ago, when I had been asked to be prepared to work with a high
level dignitary in this area, the Chief of our local unit said, "We
have safe communication with Washington in case you need it". This
might have meant courier, it might have meant something else.
6. In view of the foregoing and the attached article, I ask that
the appropriate desks at Headquarters review the Washington 25X1A2g
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communications system presently in use, ascertain what other units
in this area are doing, arrange to have us join them if they have a
better or more secure system than ours or, alternatively, consider the
possibility of creating a more secure communications system if, indeed,
the registered mail system is as described in the Associated Press
article.
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Approved For Release 2CbdiOtf 1-:i A"-SDP$'3YO'1;O2z OC 0100070002-5