Former President Jimmy Carter so distrusts the National Security Agency (NSA) that he is sticking with the U.S. Postal Service to ensure his messages remain unread by the government.
Carter said this on NBC's Meet the Press Sunday morning.
While snail mail is slower and less convenient Carter, a former nuclear engineer who is not afraid to use new technology, said he is quite certain the NSA is snooping even on his email.
"I believe if I send an email, it will be monitored," Carter said on the show in a wide-ranging discussion that included women's rights, the situation in the Ukraine and his lack of a professional relationship with President Barack Obama.
In a response to a question on the show asking whether the argument made by the NSA that its high level of surveillance is needed to protect the United States, Carter said such access has been abused by the intelligence community.
"That has been extremely liberalized and, I think, abused by our own intelligence agencies. As a matter of fact, you know, I have felt that my own communications are probably monitored. And when I want to communicate with a foreign leader privately, I type or write a letter myself, put it in the post office, and mail it," he said laughingly.
While snail mail may save you from the prying eyes of the NSA, it is not a safe haven from computer hackers. Many magazine subscription labels contain the subscribers very private password and if this gets into the hands of a hacker, it gives them a huge advantage when attempting to steal your data. So to be on the safe side, the best thing to do is rip off the mailing label.
Unfortunately, the former president's increased trips to his local post office are not helping the Postal Service. Despite stamp price hikes, the Government Accountability Office told a House committee last week that the agency is $100 billion in debt.
The impact of email, social networks and other ground-based delivery services has had on mail delivery can be seen in data provided by the Postal Service. The total volume of mail delivered has fallen to 158.4 billion pieces in 2014 from 212.2 billion in 2007. Even worse is the total revenue generated has changed little since 2004 when the post office brought in $68.9 billion. In 2013, that figure has trailed off to $67.3 billion.
