PREPARING CONFIDENTIAL MAIL

The following is the standard procedure for preparing confidential material for mailing:

1. One takes two envelopes, one slightly larger than the other.

2. One puts an initial under the flap of the smaller envelope.

3. One then puts the material inside the smaller envelope and pastes down the flap. As steaming can open flaps, waterproof glue should be used.

4. Then a razor blade (not a knife, is lightly drawn across every seam (not the outer edges), making very light invisible cuts at one inch intervals perpendicular to the seam. The cut must not go through the paper.
One can mark initial the flap edges—this means it is marked with a soluble pen. This is not vital.

5. One then puts Magic Transparent tape over the flap and the seams. The tape is pressed down with the thumbnail or top of a pen. One strip of tape must NOT overlap another. The flap and each seam must be covered with a single layer of tape, no double layers.

6. Lightly stripe the tape at one inch intervals with a razor.

7. One then heats the envelope in the oven for only a few minutes at about 200 F or 95 C degrees. If the oven is hotter than 200 F or 95 C., it will scorch the paper and make it brittle; it will fall apart. If the paper scorches, discard that envelope and start all over again.

8. One then puts the smaller envelope in the larger envelope which serves as an outer cover. The outer cover is treated in the same way as the smaller envelope, but is marked on the outside with a pen in any way. The outer cover is very lightly invisibly slashed along its seams, the tape is applied with NO overlaps. It is briefly heated. If done correctly the sealing is invisible.

9. Mail.

Overheated or scorched envelopes can come to pieces too deeply or the paper or envelopes slashed along the outer edges and envelopes cut in the mail as with a knife is now brittle.

You will find that when anyone tries to lift the tape, the tiny razor slashes really mess up the paper as it peels. Whereas that, as a Magic Transparent tape can be pulled off, baked reagent can't.

A reagent should be looked for as unbaked powder reagent in the paper and turns red or green the moment steam is applied.

The only way anyone can get into the envelope is to throw away the cover and do a new one entirely. To detect this, one can look for this initial UNDER THE FLAP before it is pasted down. Both envelopes should carry an initial.

Any tampering is defeated by the above. But oversampling or overheating can defeat it and normal mail abuse can make the thing come apart.

If envelopes marked in an obvious way are sent, then it identifies the envelope from the outside view so it must be done invisibly.

Thus, if a standard means is used at all points on the mail network, the receiver can at once detect any tampering by noting:

A. Peeled, split paper.
B. Tape doubled or overcovered with other tape.
C. Blurred writing from soluble ink, spreading caused by attempts to steam the envelope open.
D. Or, if a reagent is found that is white but turns red or green on steam (would be step 8A above), the tampering effort by steam is flashmarked.

The above is the proper procedure for preparing confidential material and checking for tampering. A little care and practice can turn out a perfect product.