U.S. officials are opening personal mail that arrives from abroad when they deem it necessary to protect the country from terrorism, a Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman said Monday.
“Customs and Border Protection is charged with making sure that terrorists and terrorists’ weapons don’t enter the country,” said Suzanne Trevino, a spokeswoman for the customs agency, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security.
Grant Goodman, an 81-year-old retired history professor, drew attention to the policy after a letter he received from a colleague in the Philippines was opened and resealed by Customs and Border Protection, and only then sent on to him.
“It was a big surprise,” Goodman, who taught at the University of Kansas, told Reuters. “The public should know that this is being done. Nobody whom I know had any idea that this was going on. And as far as I know, it’s never been announced. It’s never been revealed that this is being done.”
I’ve been down this road before; so, I’m not surprised if my mail is snooped, my phone and emails eavesdropped. I’ve been part of one successful class action suit for illegal wiretapping in the past — I’ve already volunteered for the next.
I expect little or nothing to be done until there’s a sea change in Congress — and until enough Americans who rationalize away our Constitution on behalf of piddling partisan politics stand up and join in to oppose this crap.
Ooh let me do my Republican impression!
Ahhh hem.
Look everybody whining about this should just stop and think how many terrorists have been stopped by this perfectly sensible policy which has been done by every president ever. Nobody knows how many but it must be well over ten thousand. We all need to support our president unquestioningly while we are in this perpetual war. If you aren’t guilty of doing something that the government or their personal friends don’t like you have nothing to worry about. Something about family and Jesus. Something about Liberals supporting enemies of America.
Are we on the verge of another Red Scare?
You know, I think some folks over in hollywood have been having communist / terrorism meetings. Why don’t we throw them all in jail? In fact, the other day I heard that the very governor of the state of California is an actor from a country that borders Germany! If we are going to go sniffing through mail, might as well go through his. I can think of no one more suspicious than that.
It’s not the news itself but comments like Milo made that makes me glad I’m not in the US.
How can you trust the ones that are making the so called war on terror when they can’t even catch the guy they say is the mastermind behind 9/11 ?
By loosing bits of freedom ever since 9/11, the terrorist scored a point.
>can’t even catch the guy
He’d have been caught, except some people were worried about the methods being used.
My favorite comment is by Milo. “We all need to support our president unquestioningly while we are in this perpetual war.”
It’s scary that there are even people out there who think like you. So you think that we should not question our President? Is it just because we’re in a perpetual war as you call it?
Let me tell you something. Terrorism has been around for decades and it’s not a war that can be won, only managed. I think it’s at times like these when we’re sending troops to fight and die and killing Iraqis as well that we should question our methods the most.
I’m not willing to give up right to privacy for a little false sense of security. And all people are saying is that we should know this is happening, not necessarily that it should stop.
Now what if our dear government decides to start opening every piece of mail and tapping in on every international call anyone receives and logging that info to a searchable database? I bet you’re comortable with that too.
It’s mindless drones like you who make abuse of power and infractions on the contitution possible. You might want to check into the recent NSA wiretapping scandal too. The president admits to breaking “federal law” to spy on Americans “without” a court order or any oversight. You support this too?
Elliott — I think Milo may have been sneaking some irony into the discussion.
Really? If that’s the case, it certainly doesn’t read like that. However, if that is true, then I obviously rescind my comments towards Milo, but they remain for anyone who would support such statements.
Don’t be surprised if this has been going on since WW2.
All items/Persons entering the US are subject to search with out a warrant. This is the law of the land. There is an exception to the 4th Amendment Protection for boarder searches. Although I think there is something about them reading the acctual letter. But this was a law passed in 1930’s and don’t know if it changed since it lead to the attack on Pearl Harbor.
People! I’m a Canadian and I thought for sure that saying that I was doing my Republican impression would make it clear that I was for the opposite view. Obviously not…
isnt it a federal crime to intercept mail?