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FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March
20, 2002
LIEBERMAN
ASKS POSTAL SERVICE FOR UPDATE
ON BIOTERRORISM PROTECTIONS
WASHINGTON - Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman
Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., asked the United States Postal Service
Wednesday for an update on steps it has taken to protect
Postal workers and the public in the event of future terrorist
attacks through the mails.
In a letter to Postmaster General John Potter, dated
March 19, 2002, Lieberman asked what actions the Postal
Service has taken on a series of issues, including its
emergency response plan, clean-up, and efforts to coordinate
with other agencies. Several
Postal workers and likely others died last fall from the
biological agent anthrax which was contained in mailed
letters. Two
Committee hearings in October brought to public attention the
question of how the Postal Service would respond should a
similar tragedy occur again.
Below is a copy of the Potter letter:
March
19, 2002
The
Honorable John E. Potter
Postmaster General
United States Postal Service
475 L'Enfant Plaza SW
Washington, DC 20260
Dear
Mr. Potter:
Last fall, the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs
conducted a series of hearings on homeland security. As you
know, two of the hearings addressed the problems faced by the
United States Postal Service (USPS) and the public due to
"Terrorism Through the Mail."
The testimony raised important issues related to how
the Postal Service and other agencies are responding to these
attacks and the threat of future ones.
I am now seeking to determine what action is being
taken based on what we learned, and where additional work is
needed. Please respond to the following questions by April 3, 2002.
1)
On November 13, 2001, the USPS submitted a $1.1 billion
request for funding to the Senate Committee on Appropriations,
to help cover the costs of sanitizing the mail, protecting
postal workers and the public from biohazardous material and
repairing or replacing damaged postal facilities and equipment
through June, 2002. Congress
appropriated $500 million for these purposes, in addition to
the $175 million previously allocated to the Postal Service by
the President from emergency funds, but noted that no money
could be spent from this appropriation on screening and
sanitizing the mail until the Postal Service presented an
"emergency preparedness plan to combat the threat of
biological and chemical substances in the mail" to its
Congressional oversight and appropriations committees.
This plan was delivered on March 7, 2002.
A)
The emergency preparedness plan states that USPS will
install HEPA-filtered vacuums on mail processing equipment.
The filtration systems will capture particulate matter
released during mail processing and are intended to prevent
the release of biohazardous material into the mail facility
and protect against cross–contamination of mail. These
vacuums will be combined with a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
detection methodology, which is designed to detect the
presence of specific biohazard signatures.
What substances will this detection system be designed
to sense? Where
will it initially be deployed? What steps will be triggered by
a positive test?
B)
The plan indicates that the Postal Service intends to
purchase 8 electron beam irradiation systems for deployment in
the Washington, D.C. and New York/New Jersey areas. Will these
systems be used to treat all mail collected in these areas or
will they be used just to treat mail intended for delivery to
certain destinations? If the latter, what mail destinations
will be selected for continued treatment and how was this
determination made? Please also state what is the timetable
for implementing this plan, and what categories of mail will
be sanitized. Will
mail continue to be sanitized with these systems on a routine
basis once the filtration and PCR systems are in place?
C)
What procedures is USPS following to protect worker
health, in the event that biohazardous material is found in
the mailstream? How is the Postal Service addressing the need to avoid
cross-contamination of mail, to protect the health of workers
and the public?
2)
As you know, several postal facilities tested positive
for contamination with anthrax in the last several months.
Contaminated machinery and work areas need remediation
and cleaning before they can be put back into service.
What standards is the USPS using to determine: a) how
to clean these areas most effectively; and b) when
contaminated facilities have been cleaned sufficiently and
present no future threat to postal employees and others?
Has the USPS sought advice from other agencies
regarding its clean up efforts? If so, from whom?
What input do postal employee organizations have into
the decision-making process regarding decontamination of these
facilities? What advice has USPS received?
When does USPS expect that the decontamination of these
facilities will be complete?
3)
One major concern expressed in the course of the
Committee's hearings last fall was the absence of an
established communication network that could quickly
distribute important (and accurate) information to and from
affected entities like the USPS that are on the front lines
responding to an emergency.
Another concern was the lack of clear leadership
denoting who was in charge of coordinating the government's
response to the anthrax attacks.
Finally, some have said that competing priorities among
the agencies involved may have impeded the government's
ability to simultaneously conduct a criminal investigation and
address pressing public health needs.
A)
What steps has the USPS taken to ensure that such
concerns do not hamper its efforts to respond to emergencies
in the future?
B)
Has the USPS coordinated with other governmental
offices or agencies to work through these issues? What is the
status of such efforts? Please describe any plan being
developed.
C)
What other plans or assistance do you believe USPS
needs to be prepared for future events?
I look forward to your responses on these issues. Please feel free to contact Susan Propper of my staff at
(202) 224-6599 if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Joseph I. Lieberman
Chairman
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