The National Association of Postmasters of the United States (NAPUS) recently registered an odd complaint in a letter to U.S. Senators this past Sunday.
This body of national security experts attempted to claim that the U.S. should not open delivery of first-class mail to private carriers because it would “expose the mailbox and the entire postal system to potential sabotage and terrorism, by permitting entities other than the U.S. Postal Service to access the home mail box.”
To be fair, terrorists have sought to use postal services to carry out attacks in the past—most notably with the thwarted 2010 air cargo bomb plot. NAPUS, however, is simply using this irresponsible argument to achieve their means.
American cannot be terrorproofed. By seeking to protect against every potential threat, the nation would effectively protect nothing. Instead, America and its leaders should take a responsible, risk-based approach to counterterrorism. This means ensuring that our intelligence and law enforcement communities have the resources they need to stop terrorists long before the public is ever in danger and also allowing the homeland security enterprise to focus its efforts and resources on potential high-risk threats rather than promoting misguided blanket security approaches.
It’s true that terrorists continue to seek to harm the U.S. and the American people. Indeed, at least 50 publicly known Islamist-inspired terrorist plots have been foiled since 9/11, but let’s focus on the right way to protect the nation. America can’t be terrorproofed.
