Mail Isolation Control and Tracking

[5] The Postmaster General, Patrick R. Donahoe, confirmed in an interview with the Associated Press the existence of this program on August 2, 2013.

[2][3][6] In confirming the existence of MICT, Donahoe told the Associated Press that the USPS does not maintain a massive centralized database of the letter images.

Schneier said, "Basically, [the USPS is] doing the same thing as the [NSA] programs, collecting the information on the outside of your mail, the metadata, if you will, of names, addresses, return addresses and postmark locations, which gives the government a pretty good map of your contacts, even if they aren't reading the contents.

Looking at just the outside of letters and other mail, I can see who you bank with, who you communicate with—all kinds of useful information that gives investigators leads that they can then follow up on with a subpoena.

Postal Service almost never denies requests to track suspects’ mail on behalf of law-enforcement agencies.