CBS News
Amid surging mail theft, post offices failing to secure universal keys
The U.S. Postal Service has pledged rigorous action to combat the rising theft of Americans’ mail — from checks and packages to the sensitive information that identity thieves crave.
But even as mail theft skyrocketed, from fewer than 60,000 complaints in 2018 to more than 250,000 in 2023, a CBS News investigation has found the postal service is not consistently taking steps to secure millions of universal “arrow keys” that open bulk mailboxes in apartment buildings and neighborhoods coast to coast.
A CBS News review of thousands of pages of audits, court records and agency documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show postal workers and supervisors not tracking the keys, not locking them up and not reporting them missing.
In audit after audit of postal facilities from New York to Los Angeles, the agency’s independent inspectors documented workers and supervisors failing to follow basic, long-standing regulations meant to protect the keys — and to prevent one easy way thieves are stealing Americans’ mail in bulk.
From 2019 to 2024, the records reviewed by CBS News showed that auditors checked 84 postal facilities for issues related to securing their arrow keys. In 76 facilities across 25 states and the District of Columbia, the inspectors found untracked or unsecured arrow keys.
That’s 90% of all sites checked, according to the data gathered by CBS.
In September, the Postal Service Inspector General identified arrow key accountability as one of three areas the post office should focus on to cut down on mail theft. That followed an earlier audit faulting arrow key security failures in 2020.
“If supervisors are not aware of or do not act to account for and report missing arrow keys to the Postal Inspection Service, there is an increased risk of mail theft continuing to occur,” the inspector general wrote in 2023. “These thefts damage the Postal Service’s reputation and diminish public trust in the nation’s mail system.”
That’s certainly the case for Maria Tsalis, who learned from local police in January that thieves were swiping mail from the cluster mailboxes in her neighborhood in Palos Heights, Illinois.
“I completely know they would have just emptied out my bank account. Luckily, it was only the two checks,” Tsalis said.
In response to the September 2023 inspector general report, Postal Service leaders said the agency would be implementing increased arrow key training and awareness in November.
However, the records CBS reviewed show the failures continue.
As of last month, inspectors found arrow key security issues at 10 of the 12 facilities inspected so far this year, including postal sites in California, Texas, Minnesota and Maryland.
Federal law enforcement, members of Congress and the Postal Service itself have been reiterating for decades the vulnerability of the mail to the loss and theft of the universal keys that open the ubiquitous blue collection boxes and cluster delivery boxes at apartments and subdivisions coast to coast. CBS found references to lax arrow key controls dating back to 1999.
“In the 25 years that you’re talking about — in the early part of that 25 years — we’ve done one-off mitigation strategies to address weaknesses or vulnerabilities that were found with the current arrow key system” rather than implementing a broader solution, said Peter Rendina, the USPS’ deputy chief postal inspector.
The agency now says it is upgrading mailboxes with electronic locking mechanics — a project that will take many years and billions of dollars. In the meantime, officials pledge better security over arrow keys.
Rendina noted there are hundreds of thousands of routes and postal boxes to upgrade nationwide.
“This is not an overnight change,” Rendina said.
To assess how well the agency protects the keys, CBS News examined every review of postal facilities in the last decade. The documents paint a picture of inspectors finding basic security problems — with some patterns of repeated failures that violate Postal Service regulations.
Among the problems identified:
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17 missing arrow keys at the Eagan, Minn., post office in 2024. Inspectors noted “management was not aware of any missing arrow keys” until inspectors pointed it out. Seven years earlier, the inspector general also found unsecure arrow keys in Eagan.
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At Carrollton Station in New Orleans, inspectors reported a secure space for keys “left unattended with the key left in the lock several times throughout our visit” in 2023.
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At the Inglewood Carrier Annex in Southern California, inspectors this year found more than half of the keys on the inventory — 88 of 130 — were missing and found the staff had certified its arrow key list was accurate without “inventorying actual keys on hand.”
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When inspectors checked 16 postal facilities in a 2019 sweep across the Richmond, Virginia, region, they found lax arrow key security at 15 locations. At one site, “management could not locate 10 arrow keys” and facility managers had last updated the log of arrow keys more than two years earlier.
Repeat problems often show up in reports about the same locations.
Inspectors found unsecured arrow keys at the central carrier station in New Orleans during a check in 2020. They returned three years later, in 2023, and the facility could only account for keys for 21 of 49 routes.
Carriers had kept 20 overnight, in violation of Postal Service rules that require the keys to be checked in and out, tracked and locked up when not in use. The cage where keys were supposed to be locked up “was often left open and unattended throughout our visit,” inspectors wrote — a problem noted in reports for many facilities.
The inspector general also said the Postal Service does not have a national inventory of keys, does not know how many exist or how many are missing, stolen or broken. When asked how many keys are in circulation, agency leaders told the inspector general that they did not know — estimating only “in the millions.”
That did not surprise Inspector General Tammy Hull.
“It’s not surprising, but it’s concerning,” Hull told CBS. “And it’s something that we see basically everywhere we go.”
“It’s a problem because the keys are critical to mail security,” she said.
The issue of carriers and other postal workers having open access to keys is important because that’s one of the ways criminals are getting the keys.
Federal arrest dockets and court cases are littered with examples of postal employees stealing the keys, selling the keys or taking bribes in exchange for the keys.
In April 2023, auditors inspected four postal facilities across South Florida and found lax security around arrow keys at three of them.
Less than two months later, federal agents got a tip about a postal worker in the region trying to sell arrow keys for $10,000. They set up a sting and the worker sold an undercover agent an arrow key and a half-million dollars in stolen checks, according to court documents.
The arrested worker, the prosecutor said, admitted to stealing arrow keys, selling arrow keys and having a duffel bag full of checks worth hundreds of thousands of dollars at his home.
The trade of arrow keys is not uncommon. “Arrow keys can start at $1,000 and can get up to $7,000” on the internet black market tracked for years by criminology professor David Maimon of Georgia State University.
Desire for arrow keys has also led to violence against carriers. In a letter to U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said last year that 82% of robberies targeted arrow keys.
Documents obtained by CBS News revealed the number of cases of robbery or assault against USPS employees increased every year from 2014 to 2023. In 2023, there were 1,129 cases. That’s a 404% increase over 2014, when there were 224.
Meanwhile, during the surge in mail theft, the Postal Inspection Service assigned to protect the mail and postal workers’ safety faced tight budgets and staffing. The postal police got $541 million in 2004 and $584 million in 2023 – a 33% decline when adjusted for inflation.
Staffing of the inspection service also dropped from 2,914 inspectors in 2015 to about 2,300 in 2022, the last year it provided estimates.
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Sen. Duckworth says Trump defense secretary pick is “flat-out wrong” about women in combat roles
Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth said Sunday that Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary is “flat-out wrong” in his view that women should not serve in the military in combat roles.
“Our military could not go to war without the women who wear this uniform,” Duckworth said on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.” “And frankly, America’s daughters are just as capable of defending liberty and freedom as her sons.”
Trump tapped Hegseth, a former Fox News host and Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan as his pick to head the Defense Department earlier this month. The 44-year-old has drawn criticism for his stance on women in combat roles, along with his level of experience.
Duckworth, who in 2004 deployed to Iraq as a Blackhawk helicopter pilot and sustained severe injuries when her helicopter was hit by an RPG, outlined that women who serve in combat roles have met the same standards as men, passing rigorous testing. She said Hegseth’s position “just shows his lack of understanding of where our military is,” while arguing that he’s “inordinately unqualified for the position.”
CBS News
“Our military could not go to war without the 220,000-plus women who serve in uniform,” Duckworth said. She added that having women in the military “does make us more effective, does make us more lethal.”
Hegseth has also drawn scrutiny amid recently unearthed details about an investigation into an alleged sexual assault in 2017. Hegseth denies the allegation and characterized the incident as a consensual encounter. The Monterey County district attorney’s office declined to file charges as none were “supported by proof beyond a reasonable doubt.” His lawyer has acknowledged that Hegseth paid a confidential financial settlement to the woman out of concern that the allegation would jeopardize his employment.
Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat who serves on the Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, said it’s “really troubling” that Trump would nominate someone who “has admitted that he’s paid off a victim who has claimed rape allegations against him.”
“This is not the kind of person you want to lead the Department of Defense,” she added.
The comments come after Trump announced a slew of picks for top posts in his administration in recent days. Meanwhile, one pick — former Rep. Matt Gaetz for attorney general — has already withdrawn his name from consideration after he faced intense scrutiny amid a House Ethics Committee investigation and a tenuous path to Senate confirmation.
While Duckworth acknowledged that she’s glad her Senate Republicans “held the line” on Gaetz and also elected Sen. John Thune as leader over a candidate favored by many in Trump’s orbit, she said she’s “deeply concerned” her Republican colleagues will green light Trump’s nominees.
“From what I’m hearing from my Republican colleagues on everything from defense secretary to other posts, it sounds like they are ready to roll over for Mr. Trump,” Duckworth said.
But Duckworth didn’t rule out supporting some of the nominees herself during the Senate confirmation process, pledged to evaluate each candidate based on their ability to do the job, and their willingness to put the needs of the American people before “a retribution campaign for Mr. Trump.”
Meanwhile, a CBS News poll released on Sunday found that 33% of Americans say Hegseth is a “good choice” for defense secretary, including 64% of Trump voters. But 39% of Americans said they hadn’t heard enough yet about the pick. More broadly, Americans generally say they want Trump to appoint people who’ll speak their minds and who have experience in the field or agency they’ll run.
Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican who also appeared on “Face the Nation” on Sunday, said he believes that Hegseth can run the massive Defense Department, despite his lack of experience managing a large organization. Though he did not address Hegseth’s comments about women in combat roles, Paul said he believes the “vast majority of people” support leaders who are picked based on merit, citing Hegseth’s criticism of the Pentagon for what he says has been a move away from merit-based hiring and toward hiring based on “racial characteristics.”
Hezbollah fired at least 185 rockets and other projectiles into Israel on Sunday, wounding seven people in the militant group’s heaviest barrage in several days, in response to deadly Israeli strikes in Beirut while negotiators pressed on with cease-fire efforts to halt the war.
Meanwhile, an Israeli strike on a Lebanese army center killed one soldier and wounded 18 others on the southwestern coastal road between Tyre and Naqoura, Lebanon’s military said. Israel’s military expressed regret and said the strike occurred in an area of combat against Hezbollah, adding that its operations are directed solely against the militants. The strike was under review.
Hussein Malla / AP
Israeli strikes have killed over 40 Lebanese troops since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollah, even as Lebanon’s military has largely kept to the sidelines.
Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned it as an assault on U.S.-led cease-fire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war.
“(Israel is) again writing in Lebanese blood a brazen rejection of the solution that is being discussed,” a statement from his office read.
The strike occurred in southwestern Lebanon on the coastal road between Tyre and Naqoura, where there has been heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there. Hezbollah has portrayed the attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups.
Israel has launched retaliatory airstrikes since the rocket fire began, and in September the low-level conflict erupted into all-out war, as Israel launched waves of airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon and killed Hezbollah’s top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several of his top commanders.
Hezbollah fired a total of around 160 rockets and other projectiles into Israel on Sunday, some of which were intercepted, the Israeli military said.
Oded Balilty / AP
Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said it was treating two people in the central city of Petah Tikva, a 23-year-old man who was lightly wounded by a blast and a 70-year-old woman suffering from smoke inhalation from a car that caught fire. The first responders said they treated three other people in northern Israel, closer to the border, including a 60-year-old man in serious condition.
It was unclear whether the injuries and damage were caused by the rockets or interceptors.
Israeli airstrikes early Saturday pounded central Beirut, killing at least 20 people and wounding 66, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.
On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by bombardments in northern Israel and in battle following Israel’s ground invasion in early October. Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from the country’s north.
The Biden administration has spent months trying to broker a cease-fire, and U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein was back in the region last week.
The European Union’s top diplomat called for more pressure on both Israel and Hezbollah to reach a deal, saying one was “pending with a final agreement from the Israeli government.”
Josep Borrell spoke Sunday after meeting with Mikati and Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally who has been mediating with the group.
Borrell said the EU is ready to allocate 200 million euros ($208m) to assist the Lebanese military, which would deploy additional forces to the south.
The emerging agreement would pave the way for the withdrawal of Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon below the Litani River in accordance with the U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war. Lebanese troops would patrol the area, with the presence of U.N. peacekeepers.
Lebanon’s army reflects the religious diversity of the country and is respected as a national institution, but it does not have the military capability to impose its will on Hezbollah or resist Israel’s invasion.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth says Pete Hegseth is “flat-out wrong” about women in combat roles
Sen. Duckworth says Trump defense secretary pick is “flat-out wrong” about women in combat roles
Israeli strike kills Lebanese soldier as Hezbollah fires at least 185 rockets at Israel
Sen. Tammy Duckworth says Pete Hegseth is “flat-out wrong” about women in combat roles
Sen. Duckworth says Trump defense secretary pick is “flat-out wrong” about women in combat roles