Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live At Daybreak
Anthrax Scare: U.S. Post Office Issues Security Guidelines for Suspicious Mail
Aired October 15, 2001 - 08:28 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: As the number of anthrax reports increases every day, the post office is turning into the front line of the battle against bioterrorism.
Our Boston bureau chief, Bill Delaney, is at a post office there to tell us exactly what is being done to safeguard your mail -- good morning again, Bill.
BILL DELANEY, CNN BOSTON BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning, Paula. We are in Brookline, Massachusetts, just outside Boston.
You know, Paula, another thing everybody took for granted before September 11 -- the U.S. mail now something to be cautious about -- post offices around the country on high alert.
Now, what can we do to protect ourselves against that tiny fraction of mail that could be dangerous? Well, the U.S. Post Office has issued some guidelines. A lot of it common sense, but let's go through them.
If you receive something unexpected or from someone you don't know, be wary of it. Receiving something addressed to someone who no longer works where you do. No return address can be a tip off. Be wary of packages of unusual weight or shape. Be cautious about packages marked "personal" or "confidential." Strange odors, stains, protruding wires -- be wary of it. A city or state in the postmark that doesn't match the return address -- these are tip offs.
Now, what should you do if you find suspicious mail in your mailbox or receive a suspicious package -- again common sense. Don't open it, officials say, isolate it, evacuate the area around it and call law enforcement, your local police or a postal inspector.
Now, I am here in Brookline, Massachusetts with Bob Cannon, who is the public affairs manager for eastern Massachusetts -- a long time postal system employee.
Bob, how nervous should people around the country be about their mail?
BOB CANNON, U.S. POSTAL SERVICE: Well, as with the general mood in the country, they should be concerned, but definitely not panicked or alarmed. About 700 million pieces of mail go through the system per day. Historically an extremely small percentage of those ever turn out to be hazardous, and even with the current sense of alert in the country, we feel that that still holds true.
DELANEY: What's the mood in post offices? Each piece of mail that goes through a post office, I am told, is passed through at least half a dozen people who work at post offices. How are they feeling?
CANNON: In each facility, and multiply that by the number of facilities that it goes through. And I've spent most of the morning in the post office behind us here, and it was much like any other workday with people doing their jobs, some of the casual conversation and joking going on and so forth.
Like the American public in general, they are concerned -- our employees, but they are not panicked and alarmed. They realize they can put it into perspective, again, with the 700 million pieces that the chance of something dangerous happening is very, very small.
DELANEY: Thanks very much, Bob.
I think it's important, as Bob Cannon is emphasizing, that we not make too much of this; 208 billion piece of mail through the postal system every year. The vast majority of it not dangerous, but it's all part of the mood in the country right now that even in our mailboxes, we bring extra attention to it -- back to you, Paula.
ZAHN: You know, Bill, earlier this morning -- I don't know whether you could hear it -- but I interviewed both a postal worker and a postal inspector. And there seems to be some debate among them whether workers should be entitled to protective latex gloves.
Have you heard any kind of reaction there to postal workers who are really nervous about handling some of this mail?
DELANEY: You know, I was in the Brookline, Massachusetts post office right behind me, and as Bob Cannon was saying, I was struck by how lighthearted the mood was -- nobody wearing any sort of protective gear or behaving any way than they would on a normal, rainy Monday morning here in the Boston area.
At the same time, two post offices in the Boston area were evacuated in the past few days, because of suspicious powders. They are not believed to be anthrax, but they did evacuate those post offices, and they have evacuated others around the country in the past couple of days.
Nobody is wearing protective gear. They are bringing extra vigilance to it so far as we know -- Paula.
ZAHN: OK, thanks, Bill. And I thought that little checklist you went through us was very helpful -- appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
