on Facebook
on Twitter
on YouTube
RAND Review
News
Relaxing Postal Service’s Mailbox Monopoly Could Reduce Safety
If the current U.S. Postal Service (USPS) monopoly on access to mailboxes is relaxed, it could have a moderate negative effect on public safety and mail security, according to a RAND study.
“Allowing private companies to compete with the postal service could increase the incidence of theft at the mailbox, increase the risks of mail-related financial crimes such as identity theft, and increase the delivery of suspicious items to consumers, including explosives-related items,” said Lois Davis, the study’s lead author and a senior RAND policy researcher.
Key reasons for the increased risks are differences in staff training between the USPS and private couriers and the increased number of personnel who would have access to mailboxes. There are also variations among couriers in their screening procedures and detection techniques.
Although private couriers did not respond to requests for data, publicly available documents and suggestive data from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s incident database allow for a comparison between the public and private systems. These data relate to a point at which the USPS and courier systems overlap: the “last mile” of delivery. At that point, couriers may transfer mail to the USPS when the destination is beyond the courier’s own delivery network (see the figure).
U.S. Postal Service Appears More Likely Than Private Couriers to Detect Suspicious Packages |
SOURCE: The Role of the United States Postal Service in Public Safety and Security, 2008. |
The database revealed 267 suspicious last-mile items from 2003 to 2007 — items the USPS received from couriers that either had a leaking substance, triggered radiological alerts, or met some other warning criteria.
The couriers screened the items but detected none of them as suspicious. In contrast, the USPS screening and detection system identified 87 percent of the 267 items as suspicious. Most such items turn out not to be serious; still, the large discrepancy in screening and detection rates suggests that the USPS detects suspicious items with greater sensitivity than do couriers.
How much greater the risk might be depends on how much mail would shift to couriers and whether only the major couriers or a selected range of them were allowed to enter the postal market. Fully understanding this matter requires more detailed data on courier screening practices.
“Relaxing the mailbox monopoly could also dilute the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s ability to track and police mail-related crimes,” Davis noted. A relaxation would limit federal jurisdiction over deliveries by couriers and could raise the cost and complexity of postal-inspection-service investigations.
While there are no specific pending proposals to relax the mailbox monopoly, several measures should be considered as part of any effort to do so. These include establishing national training standards for private couriers, identifying what agency should be responsible for oversight and enforcement of those standards, and creating a national reporting system to allow the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the U.S. Department of Justice to track mail crimes and crime involving couriers. 
For more information:
The Role of the United States Postal Service in Public Safety and Security: Implications of Relaxing the Mailbox Monopoly, RAND/MG-800-USPS, ISBN 978-0-8330-4615-4, 2008.
[Back To Top]
Managing Environmental Issues Can Improve Army Mission Success
By better managing environmental issues during deployments, U.S. Army units can gain tactical and strategic advantages that will help in combat and post-conflict operations and can boost overall mission success, according to a RAND study.
Many environmental issues can affect the planning and execution of military operations or can be affected by them. These issues include clean water, sewage-related infrastructure, soldier health, compliance with environmental laws, sustainability, protection of historical and cultural sites, and management of agricultural and natural resources. The trend over the past 15 years toward longer deployments and more emphasis on stability and counterinsurgency operations amplifies the importance of the environment for army operations.
Rebuilding the Infrastructure Is One of the Highest Priorities for Iraqis |
SOURCE: ABC News Poll, March 2004.NOTE: Responses show first, second, or third priority. |
In countries where environmental conditions and infrastructure are severely degraded, the crucial priorities of local inhabitants include clean drinking water, effective sewage and trash systems, and viable farmland. Public opinion surveys indicate, for example, that Iraqis care about these issues a great deal (as shown in the figure).
U.S. experience in Iraq suggests that providing these life-sustaining infrastructures can influence whether the inhabitants support the local government and U.S. goals and objectives. The U.S. Army has also had a positive influence on the environment in operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Balkans, where U.S. soldiers have helped to build wells, sewage treatment plants, and other water infrastructure systems, according to the study.
“Commanders and planners can take steps in the combat phase to preserve existing environmental infrastructure and resources that will be vital once combat has ended,” said lead author and RAND senior policy analyst David Mosher. “Determining what to preserve will demand that leaders and planners take a strategic view of the operation, including what the end result ought to be.”
Environmental issues can also affect soldier health and safety, the costs of an operation, the logistical burden of supporting the forces, and diplomatic relations. The study finds that long deployments and extended post-conflict operations like those in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Balkans expose U.S. forces to a variety of environmental problems. At one base camp in Afghanistan, longstanding pollution problems caused short-term respiratory illnesses for U.S. soldiers until the problem was identified and addressed.
The study finds that commanders have not usually given environmental concerns high priority during planning, despite the effect that environmental conditions can have on troop health, safety, and security, and despite their importance for the local population.
The researchers recommend that U.S. Army leaders give more weight to the strategic, operational, and tactical aspects of environmental considerations during planning and operations and develop comprehensive standards and best practices to address environmental issues during contingencies.
For more information:
Green Warriors: Army Environmental Considerations for Contingency Operations from Planning Through Post-Conflict, RAND/MG-632-A, ISBN 978-0-8330-4318-4, 2008.
[Back To Top]
Does Political Reform in Arab World Help to Counter Terrorism?
Democratic political reforms can marginalize extremists and undermine support for terrorism, but enacting merely cosmetic reforms and backtracking on democratization can exacerbate the risk of terrorism, according to a RAND study.
The study looked at the effects of liberalization processes on domestic political violence in six Arab states: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia.
The belief that greater democracy reduces terrorism has played a significant role in recent U.S. foreign policy. However, the study finds little direct evidence that democracy has either a positive or negative effect on terrorism. Using data from the RAND–Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, the study compared the number of terrorist incidents in each country with its score on the Freedom House index, which ranks a country’s level of freedom based on political rights and civil liberties.
There Is Little Correlation Between More Freedom and Less Terror: The Case of Egypt |
NOTE: A score of 1 indicates the highest degree of freedom, and 7 the least. |
The figure shows the results for Egypt from 1985 to 2007. Although there is some relationship between terrorist incidents and Freedom House rankings — for example, a rise in terrorism in the early 1990s at the same time that Egypt’s Freedom House score worsened (rose higher) — there is not a strong correlation between the number of incidents and the degree of liberalization over time. The results for the other countries show a similar pattern.
“Political reforms had little effect on promoting norms of tolerance or inclusive political institutions, as democracy advocates might expect,” said Dalia Dassa Kaye, the report’s lead author and a RAND political scientist. “Instead, they often exacerbated existing societal cleavages, because those in power tended to ‘stack the deck’ to maintain their power when implementing reforms.”
Moreover, cosmetic reforms, or those put into place and then withdrawn, can destabilize a country by eroding the legitimacy of the system, thereby undermining moderate factions among political opposition groups and undercutting public support for counterterrorism efforts.
Then again, even limited reforms can have some beneficial effects. In some cases, allowing opposition movements to participate in the political process has marginalized radical elements and prevented more violent tactics.
Some believe democracy is dangerous to U.S. interests in the Middle East, but the study recommends “realistic democracy promotion.” Such a policy would apply sustained pressure to strengthen democratic institutions and practices and to scrutinize reforms; emphasize human rights, transparency, judicial reform, and the rule of law; avoid taking sides in elections; safeguard security while respecting the rule of law; engage Islamic parties while leveling the playing field for other types of political opposition; and recognize political motivations behind both sides of the democratization debate.
Top