“When did the death threats start?” That’s the question a New York Times reporter asked Anthony Fauci, the famed immunologist. He answered, “One day I got a letter in the mail, I opened it up and a puff of powder came all over my face and my chest. That was very, very disturbing to me and my wife because it was in my office. So I just looked at it all over me and said, What do I do?” Luckily, the agents assigned to protect Fauci knew to spray him down and test the powder, which turned out to be benign. As a scientist, Fauci knew if the powder was anthrax, the protocol was Cipro for a month; but if it was ricin—his exact words were “bye-bye.”
For many executives and high-profile individuals, instituting a mail security program has become a critical risk reduction strategy. Insite specializes in orchestrating programs to regularly inspect all incoming mail for explosive, chemical, and biological threats. Housed in Negative Pressure Rooms, screening technology is used to identify suspicious items and pre-determined procedures limit the impact if hazardous materials are discovered
While many firms have mail handling procedures baked into their physical and operational security program, company leadership is vulnerable at home and in need of heightened protective measures. Recognizing the danger, companies and family offices are establishing residential mail security programs for their key executives and principals. When designing a mail security program, two best practices are:
Document protocols to enable rapid decision-making about suspicious mail and threatening content.
Seal all mail handling bags and affix chain of custody labels to ensure pieces of mail are not tampered with during the pick-up, inspection and delivery process.
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