Department of Homeland Security opens Kansas professor’s mail

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.


The Progressive reports that Grant Goodman, an 81-year-old professor emeritus of Asian history at the University of Kansas, writes regularly to his colleague, a former professor history at the University of the Philippines. Last month, Goodman received from his friend a letter that had already been “Opened by Border Protection,” and which displayed the seal of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The other professor, also in her 80’s, according to Goodman, “hasn’t written about anything in years.”

Goodman, who was very upset by the government’s opening his private correspondence, was also surprised by the crudeness of the letter-opening. The letter had been slashed open and then secured with heavy green tape. Unlike other prying government agencies, Homeland Security wants you to know it is watching you.

The truth needs defenders. Be one.

Tomorrow is the last day of our Spring Membership Drive, and we need to raise 1,000 new donations to fund the critical investigations our team is hard at work on. As of today, we’re still less than halfway there—and we can’t afford to fail!

Our nonprofit newsroom is funded by donors from every state in the union—blue, red, and purple, all part of a community of readers who care about the future of our democracy.

We’re independent from corporations and uninfluenced by those in power. Our commitment is solely to the truth. That’s only possible because of readers like you, who believe in the importance of independent, fearless journalism.

Be the reason these stories get told. Make a donation today.

The truth needs defenders. Be one.

Tomorrow is the last day of our Spring Membership Drive, and we need to raise 1,000 new donations to fund the critical investigations our team is hard at work on. As of today, we’re still less than halfway there—and we can’t afford to fail!

Our nonprofit newsroom is funded by donors from every state in the union—blue, red, and purple, all part of a community of readers who care about the future of our democracy.

We’re independent from corporations and uninfluenced by those in power. Our commitment is solely to the truth. That’s only possible because of readers like you, who believe in the importance of independent, fearless journalism.

Be the reason these stories get told. Make a donation today.

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate