US Department Of Homeland Security Examined Tape

I received two registered letters from Argentina today. One had been intercepted by the Department of Homeland Security, opened, and resealed with a green tape with EXAMINED and the DHS logo. I had not seen a cover with this tape in several years, and was surprised to see it in use. And pleased.

Ironically, the registered letter carried two World War One censored covers handled at the Key West FL censor station.

Front...



Reverse...





Another anomaly was that each envelope had been diagonally clipped on three corners. On the example shown, two corners are under the green tape.

I have seen such treatment on 19th century fumigated mail, but not on contemporary mail. Any thoughts?

http://www.postal-markings.org/ ... The Auxiliary Markings Club (AMC)

Clipped corners on modern mail often means it was suspected of having some drugs inside - typically a powder of some kind. Another modern form of letters being examined is when they arrive in a stiff and brittle condition. That is from it being subjected to strong X-rays which is done not so much for looking inside, but more for a letter that is suspected of containing either something like anthrax or something possibly explosive. Another tip off for a letter that has undergone strong X-ray treatment is when there is some plastic coated paper or such inside and the plastic coating has been melted a bit and the pages are sticking together because of it. Glossy brochures are an example of paper that has plastic coating.

Letters that can get this kind of extra attention tend to be ones that are thicker than normal, that do not have return addresses on them, that have unusual stamps on them, and other triggers that fit a profile. Of course most all such letters that are pulled out for such attention by the guys doing the examining are just fine like yours is but they are doing their job because of the few bad apples out there.