Perspective Chapter: Post Offices and National Security during War

Abstract

National security in the digital and information age may be jeopardized if a war breaks out internationally. At first, enemy countries may conduct air raids and hacking operations to destabilize and destroy all the electronic media of communication through bombardment and cyberattacks. In that case, a government must have a backup physical medium of communication to maintain not only communication within the government but also civilian communication. During this era of modern information and communication technology, the roles of post offices are redefined in the light of their roles during past wars in terms of building a more resilient society during modern warfare, which requires an assessment of the current level of readiness, adaptability and flexibility of the military to run the postal organization during war. Last but not the least, the article provides different case studies of postal operations during different wars. This article will refresh the knowledge of postal operations during wartime among postal as well as military officials.

1. Introduction

Have you ever thought of a world where the electronic communication system has broken down completely due to the onset of an international war? How would individuals and organizations communicate with their counterparts in that situation? In this age of modern technologies, many people often underrate the role and contribution of post offices in communication. Most of the people often argue that email has made the role of post offices blurred and has diminished its utility in today’s society. However, these people often overlook the role of post offices in maintaining the sovereignty of a state. Have these people ever thought of the fact that national security in the digital and information age may be jeopardized if a war breaks out internationally? Air strikes are usually the first activity during the war, which is used to destroy all the electronic mediums of communication of an enemy country through bombardment [1]. Moreover, there are chances of cyber warfare, where cyberattacks can render all the online systems dysfunctional. In that case, a government must have a backup physical medium of communication to maintain not only communication within the government but also civilian communication. That is why even during this age of technology, the government still retains the control over post offices despite its being a losing concern for the government. A nation should maintain a degree of resilience in order to revert to the physical medium of communication during war. During this era of modern information and communication technology, the role of post offices can be redefined in the light of their roles during past wars in terms of building a more resilient society during modern warfare. This article will refresh the knowledge of postal operations during wartime among postal as well as military personnel.

2. Methodology

The aim of the chapter is to inform the readers about the potential role of post offices in maintaining national security during war. In doing so, this chapter uses several methodologies. First of all, it reviews the existing literature in the field of war and national resilience to understand what roles are expected from post offices during wars. Secondly, it uses historical narratives to demonstrate how postal operations were conducted during war and how post offices contributed to maintaining national security during past wars. The exploration of some selected historical case studies is aimed at showing possible uses or means for post offices to be utilized to overcome the loss of infrastructure from attacks in wartime, which would work as possible lessons for the future wars. The use of historical narratives of the past wars has limitations in the sense that modern warfare is most likely to be drastically different from the past wars in respect of types of attacks, types of targets, means of attack and so on. Thirdly, based on the past case studies on different wars, the potential roles of post offices for modern war were derived as a possible solution to the problem of loss of electronic infrastructure during war. These roles are not meant to be specific to a certain country or for a certain point of time in history. Rather, they are to be deemed as an ideal solution to the problem rather than a universal approach. The relationship between modern potential roles and national security was analyzed and evaluated in the light of the existing literature in the field of security studies. Fourthly, readiness, adaptability and flexibility of the Army of different states in running postal organizations were assessed because it is recommended that the postal department come under the general command of the Army during the war and postal operations need to be conducted manually during the war because of the destruction of technologies. To conduct such assessment, a measure of correlation was used to find the association between ranks of military strengths and postal resilience score for 132 countries of the world. Lastly, literature on modern war and resilience was reviewed to explore the relevance of post offices in respect of national security.

3. Literature review

Any discourse on war remains incomplete without referring to some of its fundamental literature. As such, this section attempts to relate post offices’ role in national security during the war by referring it to the work of Carl von Clausewitz and other prominent authors on modern war and national resilience. This section will inform the readers about the roles that are expected from post offices during wars.

3.1 Clausewitz

A sensible starting point in this regard should be the “remarkable trinity” in war introduced by Clausewitz, which is used as “a central analytical framework for comprehending the nature of war” [2]. Clausewitz’s trinity is composed of the people, the commander and his Army and the government [3] that try to capture the “human elements of war, the interactive dynamics of war and the centrality of fighting” [4]. In this trinity, the post office obviously falls within the last element of the trinity, that is, the government because the post office usually exists as a government department. During war, a government introduces “the rational calculus of war in order to protect the interest of the state, provide the goals for war, maximize and preserve the strength of the state relative to other states, and devise the overall strategic direction, including the matching of resources and expenditures to anticipated gains” [3]. Post offices play a vital role in this rational calculus by maximizing and preserving the strength of the state relative to other states in respect of communication. During war, a robust physical medium of communication can be a differentiating factor for success among states. Post offices have also a role to play in respect of mobilizing various types of resources on behalf of the government during war.

In his book one, chapter six, Clausewitz dwelled over intelligence in war, which has much to do with the post office. Intelligence is defined as every sort of information about the enemy and its country. The term “communication” is inextricably linked with the term “information.” At present, there are “varied means of communication” that “revolutionized the ability of commanders to receive information from and on the battlefield, allowing them to dispatch their orders and decisions much more effectively than in Napoleon’s time [3]. Handel [3] argues that Clausewitz’ (and even more so Tolstoy’s) pessimistic view of the commanders’ lack of effective control over the course of events on the battlefield is no longer justified—certainly not from the technical point of view because the difficulties in receiving and transmitting information on the battlefield have been reduced considerably. However, this is not true because during modern warfare, the technological equipment is not expected to be in order because of their dependence on transmission towers, which will be destroyed by air raids. In that case, post offices come as the savior for the commanders to receive and dispatch information and orders from and to the field staff.

Clausewitz has mentioned about the “sense of locality” as an important attribute of the commanders [4]. When an Army moves to a new locality, whose geography and people are completely unknown to them, they must rely on local guides and spies to provide them information on the local geography and people. Post office people are well versed in these two things by virtue of their nature of work. As such, they are the most suitable people to help Armies become conversant with local conditions.

Clausewitz was also concerned about the geographical dimension of war [4]. The most striking aspect of the geographical dimensions of war is the geographical limitation. McInnes [5] notes how, during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, “Geographical limitations were overcome by improvements in transportation, enabling armies of hundreds of thousands to be moved and supplied over large distances.” The postal sector’s capacity in respect of logistics and delivery undoubtedly helps in overcoming the geographical limitations during war.

3.2 Creveld

Creveld emphasizes on the military balance as a sine qua non for winning a war [6]. He points out that military balance depends on the effective use of a multimodal communication system during war. He provides accounts of some records of failures during war, where some failures were due to interrupted communication. He underscores the supportive role of the non-combatants, which include civilian organizations including post offices during war. Finally, he discussed about the obstacles to force, where communication obstacles are very crucial.

3.3 Tuck

Tuck delineates the principles of land warfare, where he emphasizes on the coordination between the Army and other state agencies as a precondition for success in land warfare [7]. He particularly mentioned the role of stable and uninterrupted communication infrastructure during war. Post offices, as a physical medium of communication and a state agency, thus contribute towards the success of military in war.

3.4 Simpson

Simpson pointed out that war consists of a fragmented and polarized dynamics implying that war affects every infrastructure and institution in a country [8]. Thus, the post office is not an exception during war. Simpson emphasizes the traditional use of armed force to seek to create military conditions within which a political settlement can be reached. However, creating such a conducive military condition hinges on the support of other organizations in a state, including the post office.

3.5 Lewin

Lewin shows through several case studies how resilience during war can save nations from the devastating consequences [9]. As part of national resilience, he proposed the deployment of a number of techniques that would render the effectiveness of resilience programs by matching together the different factors of national resilience. In his model, he shows different combinations of factors and the resultant effects on national resilience. The combination of military and postal sectors has a distinct place in his model that leads toward improved national resilience in the communication sector of a country.

4. Postal operation during war

It may be mentioned that, during a war, a state’s backbone communication infrastructure is destroyed partially or thoroughly. As a result, the state of physical medium of communication gets back to a primitive state, where little or no technology is used to perform postal operations, that is, mail collection, transmission and delivery. Rather, every operation is performed manually. In that case, one can assume that the postal services would be conducted in a manner similar to that during the Second World War. As such, it would be the most appropriate to describe how postal operations are carried out during war in the light of the situation that prevailed during the Second World War. The Postal War Manual which was published in 1937 provides a fairly accurate description in this regard [10]. As such, the next paragraphs in this section have been taken from that book with a view to provide the readers with a comprehensive understanding of how postal operations are conducted during war.

During war, the postal service should come under the general command of the Army. The postal officials wear the ranks and badges of military personnel. During war, the units formed by the postal services on mobilization are termed as base postal depot, base post offices and field post offices. The Base postal depot works as a postal clearing house, inquiry bureau, forwarding office and returned letter office for all field units. It also acts as the record office and depot for postal units and deals with the postal stock depots regarding issues of technical equipment. There are separate rules regarding the war establishments of field postal units.

The location of the base postal depot is decided by the head of the postal department in consultation with the Army Headquarters. Vicinity of the cantonments, field offices of the Armies, mail communication system and war situation at a certain locality, to name a very few, are some of the determining factors in this regard. One or more base post offices are opened as the channel of communication between the state and the field, and vice versa. Ordinarily, a base post office is established at each important military base of operations. In the case of overseas expeditions, base post offices are preferably established at the main post of disembarkation. A base post office works as the head post office and a field post office works as the sub-post office in account with the base post office.

The postal services of an Army or force in the field are controlled by the officers of the postal service. These officers are attached to the general headquarters and the headquarters of the Armies. They receive the orders of their commanders through “Q” staff of the headquarters concerned. These officers are senior officials of the postal department who are equivalent to the position of Postmaster Generals.

The Director General of the Postal Department will issue instructions for mobilization of all postal units included in the mobilization plan. During the course of operation, the Director of Postal Services will advise the Force Commander with regard to postal services. In the event of additional units required, the Force Commander will apply to the Quarter Master General, who will inform the Director General of the Postal Department of the requirements. The Director General will then issue orders for the raising of additional units. In the case of operations not entailing mobilization, the command concerned may arrange direct with the Postmaster General of the postal circle for the provision of such field post office and base post offices as the circumstances require after obtaining approval from the Army Headquarters. The Quarter Master General will keep the Director General of Postal Department of such arrangements. Field post offices will be established on the lines of communication as required. The Director of Postal Service or his authorized representative will take a decision in this regard in consultation with the Army and Postal Headquarters.

On general mobilization, all supervising postal officers selected for field service will be granted commissions in the Army in reserve core and will be given temporary military rank and other amenities entitled to a military officer of equivalent pay or grade. Other subordinate staffs will also be entitled to rank as equivalent to their corresponding pay or grade. The postal officers and staffs mobilized for field service will be controlled by the Army Act. They will have to observe necessary practices relating to secrecy and confidentiality. Relating to departmental offenses, the officers and staffs of post offices will be disciplined departmentally. Military and civil offenses will be dealt with by military authorities under the orders of the commander of the formation or unit to which the offender may be attached, and any sentence awarded by them, either summarily or by order of a court-martial, will be carried out by the military authorities. Unless someone commits a felony, he or she will be kept in his or her duties in the condition of open arrest and will be trialed under the departmental laws and not by the military act. Postal officers who have been granted commissions will wear uniforms and badges of rank. Subordinates will be supplied with field service clothing and kits. Non-combatants will receive the prescribed uniform. All postal officers and staffs will wear brass shoulder titles inscribed “Post.” Those who are not supplied with uniform will wear identity discs or cards, which will have the words “Post Office” and a consecutive number stamped thereon. There will be a separate war establishment manual that will govern the matters relating to establishments of postal officers and staffs during war.

Postal officers who will be commissioned will be armed like an officer of an infantry battalion of equivalent rank. There will be separate war equipment manual that will contain details of mobilization equipment. The equipment of postal units, both military and technical, is kept in peace by the headquarters of formations to which the concerned postal units will be attached on mobilization. It will be issued to postal personnel when they join their respective headquarters on mobilization. Field post offices will fly a distinguishing flag by day and by night and will show the distinguishing lamps as will be supplied to them as per the war equipment manual. Subsequent to mobilization, supplies of military equipment will be obtained by postal units from the nearest ordnance depot. Supplies of technical equipment will be obtained by the field post offices from the base post offices, which will indent upon the base postal depot. All the postal officers and staffs will be responsible for safekeeping of the equipment. It must be handed over under receipt from one officer to another officer when relieving from duties in the case of transfer. On completion of a campaign, postal units will hand in military equipment (of ordnance issue) to the headquarters of the formations to which they will be attached during the campaign. All technical equipment (of postal issue) will be handed into the base postal depot. The base postal depot on receipt of the technical equipment from the postal units in the presence of the official in charge of the unit will complete the equipment of each particular unit to scale and transfer it to the headquarters of the respective formations to which they will be attached on mobilization.

In order to run the postal service smoothly during war, a post is created called Director of Postal Service, who is assisted by the Assistant Director of Postal Service and Deputy Assistant Director of Postal Service. These assistants are posted at the field and base post offices. The Director of Postal Service exercises the power of a Postmaster General. He or she will usually be at the general headquarters of the Army but will be moving frequently to visit the base and field post offices. He or she will also act as the advisor to the military authorities on all postal matters. The orders of the Force Commander will be conveyed to him or her through “Q” staffs. He or she will be responsible for proper arrangements and posting of subordinate staffs to various field and base post offices. Post offices are required to prepare and submit daily as well as annual reports of their activities to the higher authorities.

The Director of Postal Service and the Assistant Directors of Postal Service will arrange with Army for Force Headquarters for the carriage of the mails between base and field post offices. The Quartermaster General will arrange for the transport and all other logistics support for carrying mails. Detailed instructions will be issued regarding the manner of dispatching mails. Financial services rendered by post offices will continue as long as there is a smooth provision of disposing excess cash on a daily basis. All important questions affecting postal arrangements will be settled by the Director of Postal Service under the orders of the Force Commander. However, in case of minute details and also in the case of urgency, senior local postal officials may take action with the concurrence of the nearest military authority.

5. Case studies on post offices and its role in war

During past wars, the role of postal officials was undeniable in maintaining nationwide communications. Following are some case studies that help us to assimilate the role of post offices during war.

5.1 World war I

As can be found from a BBC report, delivering 12 million letters a week and the commitment of the postal staffs to deliver the replied letters back to the UK is a clear sign of the efficiency of postal service during World War I [11]. As can be learnt from Ref. [12], during World War I in the UK, “post office had its own regiment called ‘The Post Office Rifles’ to fight on the frontline. Carrier pigeons were used to deliver post during that war.” As can be found in Frank’s diary [13], during World War I, “all mail destined for the armed forces was routed through the Home Postal Depot in London for sorting and despatch. The primary depot was a huge, wooden, purpose-built structure set on five acres of Regent’s Park. Once processed, the mail was then sent on to Base Army Post Offices (BAPO) that existed in every theatre of war. From there, it was distributed to the Field Post Offices, mobile units that were close to the front. Unit Postal Orderlies collected the mail from there and delivered it to the troops. The Army Postal Service ran the Base Army and Field Post Offices. By the end of the war, it had over 7,000 men and women serving in it, all of whom were seconded from the General Post Office. The service worked very well. A special correspondent for The Times reported on December 22nd 1917 that parcels arriving at the BAPO in France on the 18th had left Belfast on 13th and Glasgow on 14th and that letters were taking less than 48 hours from Aberdeen and Wolverhampton” [13].

5.2 World war II

“In 1939 the Postmaster General of the UK informed Postmasters across the country to allow parcels containing babies’ Air Raid Precautions helmets to be carried via the inland parcel post, even if they exceeded the usual maximum dimensions” [14]. Duffield [14] adds that “the Post Office deployed Air Raid Precautions (A. R. P.) to protect their buildings, which had great importance to both civilians and the military in maintaining postal and telephone communications.” Crowley [15] highlights the role of post offices during the Second World War in the UK, which include changing the postal habits of the people, maintaining national morale and remaining post offices open even after the sounding of a public warning siren, to name a very few.

5.3 The liberation war of Bangladesh

The war was 9 months long that began on March 26, 1971, and ended on December 16, 1971. During the war, the first field post office was established in Mujibnagar, the temporary capital of the country. Besides, a set of eight postage stamps was published to mark the sovereignty of the country. It was mostly like a guerilla warfare and the postal people assisted the freedom fighters by carrying arms and ammunitions inside postal bags. They also provided secret information about the Pakistan occupation forces, particularly their positions, bunkers, etc. [16].

5.4 Ukraine war

Ukraine War with Russia is the latest example of how post offices help in maintaining national security during war. As can be found in the report of AlJazeera [17], banks have closed in Ukraine and post offices are stepping up to provide financial services while also delivering mail and humanitarian aid. The department reiterates its firm determination to remain open amid all adversities. For example, the department has opened mobile post offices as more than 500 post offices have been destroyed. It has also published commemorative stamps to boost up the morale of the Ukrainian people.

6. Modern potential roles

Taking lessons from the above wars, it can be deduced that, during a modern warfare, post offices have the scope to assume the following roles as a possible solution to the loss of electronic infrastructure during war that may render it as a front organization in upholding and maintaining national security of a state during war.

6.1 Keeping communication uninterrupted

Keeping the physical communications uninterrupted during a war is a major challenge for post offices. As can be learnt from the previous sections, during the World Wars, postal services remained uninterrupted amid many obstacles. Even during the modern war, such as the ones going on in Ukraine and Palestine, the postal services are running smoothly without major disruptions. As the physical infrastructure, such as roads and bridges are destroyed, the mail communications are disrupted. Nevertheless, the post office people have always shown their firm commitment to keep mail communication uninterrupted. There is a saying in the post offices that “mail must move (mmm)” under any circumstances. Post offices usually deploy a relay system of mail communication, where a runner travels a certain distance and hands over the mail bags to another runner to travel further toward destination.

6.2 Security of the lives of the common people

During war, people cannot come to post offices and even cannot go elsewhere to fulfill their quotidian necessities because if they go outside, their life will be jeopardized. The post office comes at the forefront in this situation. Post office staffs go to the doorstep of the common people to collect and deliver mails that contain essential commodities required for living their day-to-day life.

6.3 Postal force mobilization

Postal force mobilization refers to the process of transferring the postal officers and staffs to the military establishment with a view to absorb them within the Army during war. Postal force mobilization involves tasks such as preparing the list of fit and willing officers and staffs, providing them with necessary training and so on. Detailed rules of mobilization are laid down in the Postal War Manual [10].

6.4 Formation of postal battalions

In addition to providing ancillary services, post office people also take part actively in war. For example, during World War II, the Local Defense Volunteers in the UK were trained to operate anti-aircraft weapons, grenades, and to fight with bayonets. The post office forms their own battalions during war. For instance, Post Office Rifle Clubs were formed during World War I [12].

6.5 Safekeeping of government exchequer

A considerable amount of cash, stamps and other valuables that form the part of government treasury is stored in the post office vaults. Post office people assume it as their solemn duty to ensure security of those cash, stamps and other valuables. Post office people are always ready to dedicate their lives for the sake of ensuring security of these cash, stamps and valuables under their custody. For example, during the liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971, the Senior Postmaster of Chottogram (formerly Chittagong) GPO refused to hand over the key of the treasury vault room to the occupational forces of the Pakistan Army [16].

6.6 Safekeeping of customer information

War can be of various types. The war I have discussed so far is about the political war that concerns the sovereignty of a country. Another type of war is economic war which concerns the autarky and economic well-being of the country and its citizens. Even another type of war is information warfare which concerns the privacy of information of customers. The latter two types of war have devastating consequences on the economic lives of the citizens of a country. Post offices work for the safekeeping of customers’ information relating to their address database and consumer’s purchase behavior during economic and information warfare. For example, if the consumers’ purchase behavior and their address database that are preserved by post offices are leaked, it will suffice to ruin the backbone of an economy in a number of ways, such as through supplying credit card information to the hackers of enemy countries and supplying purchase behavior information to the agents of product manufacturers of enemy countries.

6.7 Carrying and delivering military supplies

Although military convoys are deployed during war for carrying military supplies, there may be some technical, tactical and diplomatic issues that may entail use of postal service for carrying and delivering military supplies. For example, a postal supply chain may be used to send the supplies in a disguised way. During the liberation war of Bangladesh which was one type of guerilla warfare, the postal runners and mail carriers used to carry the arms and ammunitions on behalf of the freedom fighters. Besides, when an Army camp is situated at a distant place where military vehicles cannot go, postal runners may be used for delivering military supplies in small quantities.

6.8 Intercepting and checking articles

The main purpose is to detect if any mail contains any written matter, such as a propaganda, a cipher message and so on, which are subversive to the state security. A prime concern is to detect if a letter or parcel contains any dangerous article that may be a serious threat to national security. There may be chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) weapons inside a parcel. For example, there was an anthrax attack by mail in 2001 [18]. So, it is very usual that enemies will try to use the postal service to spread CBRN weapons during war. A related concept in this regard is field censorship. Instructions regarding field censorship that is the censorship of correspondences addressed to or emanating from persons in a theater of operations will be issued to all concerned when the decision to impose field censorship is imposed. Efficient field censorship depends greatly on close co-operation between the postal services and the field censorship staffs. If a field censorship is imposed, a censor officer along with supporting staffs will be appointed to each Army in the field. The postal staffs are required to hand over all the incoming and outgoing mails to the censor staffs for inspection [10].

6.9 Domestic surveillance

This role of post office has been identified by Conolly-Smith [19]. Postmen and runners work as the sources or informers for the armed forces to identify collaborators and traitors. Postmen visit door-to-door and have a good knowledge about the geography of the locality and the people residing there. They know better than the Army which are the best places to hide and which are the best places to launch an attack. They know the exit path of the locality. Thus, they help an Army to plan for an attack and to carry out reconnaissance. For example, during the liberation war of Bangladesh, the postal people such as postmen were of great help to the freedom fighters in this respect [16].

6.10 Backup of online systems

Another form of warfare is cyber war, where cyberattacks are common to debilitate the online systems. In that case, the post offices work as a backup of those systems. For instance, if the financial services, such as Automated Teller Machine (ATM), Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT), Mobile Financial Services (MFS) and other online remittance systems collapse during war due to cyberattacks or physical damage, then the post offices’ traditional money order system will be the server of the last resort.

6.11 Philatelic matters relating to sovereignty

This is particularly common when a nation is engaged in a liberation war to free itself from foreign occupation forces. Bangladesh is a burning example in this regard. In 1971, immediately after declaration of the independence and formation of the government in exile, the government of Bangladesh took initiative to publish the first postage stamp as a token of its sovereignty and independence. This stamp played a vital role in gaining recognition from other states [20].

7. What these roles have to do with national security?

By playing the above roles, post offices ensure national security during war through ontological security. Zarakol [21] argues that ontological security is more important than the sovereignty of a state. Zarakol further argues that ontological security is contrary to the idea that state is “a unitary actor” [21], and thus, it follows that in order to ensure ontological security, the states must think of themselves as part of the global system and thus the states must think beyond the concept of national sovereignty in order to ensure ontological security. Post offices consider the world as a single postal territory [22]. No war can stop the movement of mails across the border. Even if a mail bag is received from an enemy state as a transit to forward it to a third state, the state receiving the mail has no right to detain it. For example, we can know from the report of AlJazeera [17] that the Universal Postal Union helped to reconstruct postal infrastructure and restore Ukrainian postal services. It took a number of steps to support Ukraine, such as waiving charges for the delivery of postal items to Ukraine, distributing large amounts of goods and raising funds. The result was that international postal exchanges remained unhindered by Russian military actions.

National security is a matter of concerted efforts of all the players in a state. Although the armed forces play the first fiddle about the national security during war, it cannot ensure national security without the help of other agencies of the government. It should be remembered that not all department’s role becomes active and visible during war at all times. Rather, it depends on situations. Some situations may arise during war that can render the postal department as more important than any other department that provides support to the armed forces. For example, when wireless apparatuses cease to operate due to a lack of signals in remote and hard-to-reach areas, the post offices will come as the savior for the armed forces to reach urgent messages to the Army camps in those areas. It is the post office staffs who are more aware than any other staffs in other government departments about the physical communication system in a locality. Thus, their services become essential for both communication, espionage and reconnaissance purposes.

8. An assessment of the readiness, adaptability and flexibility of military of different states to run the postal organization during war

If a war breaks out internationally, the first and foremost attack will be undoubtedly on the electronic media of communication and its infrastructure. It is expected that they will be destroyed completely and will not be operational until the end of war. In that case, people will have to change their postal habits, and the whole postal system will go back to the primitive state, where people will maintain communication through a physical medium, that is, post office and mails will be collected, transmitted and delivered manually. The most striking change will be that the whole postal organization will come under the military command and control. If this happens, it entails an assessment of the readiness, adaptability and flexibility of the military to run the postal organization during war. At present, there is no recognized measure or index to determine such readiness, adaptability and flexibility. The Global Firepower is an index that ranks military strengths of different states of the world. This ranking utilizes sixty individual factors to determine the power index. However, none of these factors measure the readiness, adaptability and flexibility of the military forces of the world [23]. As such, we need to use another alternative method to assess the readiness, adaptability and flexibility of the military of different states to run the postal organization during war. It is interesting to note that the Universal Postal Union publishes a Postal Development Report that contains a score of various countries relating to postal resilience [24]. To me, it makes sense to calculate the rank correlation coefficient through Spearman’s ρ as the measure of association between the rank of military strengths and postal resilience score for 132 countries of the world (provided in Appendix-1) in order to determine the strength of relationship between these two ranks. As the Global Firepower index does not have any such index to measure the readiness, adaptability and flexibility, the rank correlation coefficient between the ranks of military strengths and postal resilience score for 132 countries of the world may provide a rough idea about the state of readiness, adaptability and flexibility of the military of different states to run the postal organization during war. The formula used for computing Spearman’s ρ is as follows [25, 26, 27]:

$$\rho =1-\frac{6\Sigma d^2}{n\left(n^2-1\right)}$$E1

where

d = the difference between each rank of corresponding values of independent and dependent variables

n = the number of pairs of values

The value of Spearman’s ρ was 0.35, which indicates a moderately positive correlation between ranks of military strengths and postal resilience score for 132 countries of the world. It implies that the military forces of the world are moderately resilient to embrace the postal system during war.

To assess the readiness, adaptability and flexibility of the military of different states to run the postal organization during war, I have looked at the present state of relationship between the postal and the military departments. I have taken the United States of America (USA), the United Kingdom (UK) and Russia as the sample states to look at such relationships.

In the USA, there is a separate military postal service agency that processes military mail. The United States postal services explains military mail as follows:

“The Department of Defense is a key partner in extending Postal Service products and services to the American Armed Forces overseas. The Postal Service uses its international distribution and transportation services to support the Department of Defense around the world. Overseas military mail is mail matter delivered to APOs (Army Post Offices for Army and Air Force personnel) and FPOs (Fleet Post Offices for Navy and Marine Corps personnel). This service is an extension of the domestic service and includes all mail addressed to or mailed from a military unit or between two military units overseas. The Postal Service is committed to providing top operational service to American service men and women stationed overseas” [28].

Section 406 of Title 39 United States Code provides the legal authority for the Department of Defense (DoD) to establish branch post offices and enter into an agreement with USPS. So, DoD personnel are authorized to provide mail service to DoD patrons [29]. Under this rule, the armed forces can establish military post offices, that is, APOs and FPOs [29].

In the UK, a dedicated military postal unit, the Army Post Office Corps was formed in 1882. It was transformed into a new organization called British Forces Post Offices (BFPO) in 1990 [30].

As can be known from [31], Russia has a very good tradition of a systematic and well-organized postal service that has been prevalent since 1700 A.D. Moreover, as can be known from [31], Lenin, just after Russian revolution, vowed to organize “the whole national economy on the lines of the postal service.” This implies that military service in Russia is also keen to accept the postal system. Thus, it can be argued that while in the UK and the USA, the military is shaping the postal operations because they have separate military mail service. In Russia, the postal service is shaping military operations because the military organizations had to follow the postal structure after the Russian revolution.

9. Conclusion

The extant literature in the fields of war and national resilience indirectly supports the roles of post offices in respect of national security during war. In the light of the lessons learnt from previous wars, it can be concluded that post offices proved itself as a reliable organization during the past wars in terms of providing uninterrupted communications services. However, the situations that may prevail during any modern war are expected to be remarkably different from those in the previous wars. Therefore, post offices are expected to play a more extensive role than in the past because it is apprehended that modern warfare may jeopardize the national security of a state through air attacks and cyberattacks, which will entail post offices to assume some roles conducive to national security, such as keeping communication uninterrupted, ensuring security of the lives of the common people, mobilizing postal force, forming postal battalions, safekeeping of government exchequer, safekeeping of customer information, carrying and delivering military supplies, intercepting and checking articles, ensuring domestic surveillance, acting as the backup of online systems and publishing philatelic matters relating to sovereignty, to name a few. As it is highly likely that postal organizations may become under the general command of the Army during war and that the postal service may have to return to a primitive state due to the destruction of communication technologies, there is an issue of national resilience during war, which entails the assessment of the readiness, adaptability and flexibility of the Army of different states in running postal organizations. Using a measure of association for 132 countries of the world, it was found that the military forces of the world are moderately resilient to embrace the postal system during war.

As water has no constant form, there are no constant conditions in war [32]. War operates in a volatile environment that can entail the support of any organization crucial and vital during wartime. Although post offices can expect to be a vital and crucial player during war at any time, it should strive for making it more useful during war to the generals and statesmen. To this end, post offices must engage in new sorts of activities and services that would be useful during war. Apart from the functions discussed in this essay, some potential activities of post offices during war that may contribute toward enhancing national security may include conducting national security surveys, providing postal identities to the citizens and extending post restante services, to name a few. However, it is difficult to say which activities might emerge out of situational demand as the activities are crucial for maintaining national security. Thus, it would be wise for post offices to be ready all the time for taking up any role during war.

The most important thing for the post office is to convince the government that it has a glorious past in ensuring national security during war and it wishes to continue to contribute in the same way in the future. However, recent dwindling of the importance of its services has caused the loss of image and importance of the post office department and its people. Thus, in order to be considered as a vital player in ensuring national security, the first and foremost thing is to regain its social, economic, and political importance and its lost image through efficient operation of the existing services having value-added features and intrinsic appeal for the products and services it offers.

Appendix 1

See Table A1.

Sl.	Country	Military strength	Postal resilience score
1	Australia	16	24
2	Afghanistan	114	88
3	Albania	91	70
4	Algeria	26	86
5	Angola	55	102
6	Argentina	28	103
7	Armenia	94	39
8	Austria	84	5
9	Azerbaijan	57	85
10	Bahrain	79	79
11	Bangladesh	40	126
12	Belarus	60	1
13	Belgium	68	16
14	Belize	139	119
15	Benin	144	57
16	Bhutan	145	118
17	Bosnia and Herzegovina	133	4
18	Botswana	124	64
19	Brazil	12	21
20	Bulgaria	59	51
21	Burkina Faso	121	77
22	Cambodia	106	123
23	Cameroon	100	71
24	Canada	27	6
25	Central African Republic	136	132
26	Chad	97	120
27	Chile	46	41
28	China	3	40
29	Colombia	43	25
30	Congo	72	101
31	Congo (Rep.)	122	74
32	Croatia	69	50
33	Cuba	66	106
34	Czech Rep.	48	22
35	Denmark	50	125
36	Dominican Republic	118	62
37	Egypt	14	90
38	El Salvador	127	100
39	Eritrea	113	112
40	Estonia	104	17
41	Ethiopia	49	75
42	Finland	51	96
43	France	9	7
44	Gabon	131	105
45	Georgia	85	44
46	Germany	25	27
47	Ghana	109	67
48	Great Britain	5	11
49	Greece	30	43
50	Guatemala	102	131
51	Honduras	92	130
52	Hungary	54	115
53	Iceland	137	52
54	India	4	58
55	Indonesia	13	36
56	Iran	17	35
57	Iraq	45	76
58	Ireland	90	8
59	Israel	18	20
60	Italy	10	9
61	Japan	8	31
62	Jordan	81	87
63	Kazakhstan	63	49
64	Kenya	87	59
65	Korea (Rep.)	6	47
66	Kuwait	78	129
67	Kyrgyzstan	107	28
68	Laos	115	83
69	Latvia	95	53
70	Lebanon	111	111
71	Liberia	141	99
72	Libya	80	94
73	Lithuania	93	23
74	Luxembourg	126	95
75	Madagascar	130	73
76	Malaysia	42	33
77	Mali	110	108
78	Mauritania	132	42
79	Mexico	31	55
80	Moldova	143	34
81	Mongolia	99	92
82	Montenegro	128	56
83	Morocco	61	32
84	Mozambique	112	128
85	Myanmar	38	80
86	Nepal	129	110
87	Netherlands	39	15
88	New Zealand	103	19
89	Nicaragua	117	117
90	Niger	119	98
91	Nigeria	36	72
92	North Macedonia	108	65
93	Norway	35	45
94	Oman	76	114
95	Pakistan	7	93
96	Panama (Rep.)	135	107
97	Paraguay	88	89
98	Peru	53	82
99	Philippines	32	78
100	Poland	20	14
101	Portugal	41	12
102	Qatar	65	63
103	Romania	47	81
104	Russian Federation	2	10
105	Saudi Arabia	22	66
106	Senegal	125	97
107	Serbia	58	2
108	Sierra Leone	138	124
109	Singapore	29	13
110	Slovakia	67	18
111	Slovenia	86	46
112	South Africa	33	48
113	Spain	21	54
114	Sri Lanka	71	60
115	Sudan	75	38
116	Suriname	140	127
117	Sweden	37	84
118	Switzerland	44	3
119	Tajikistan	120	116
120	Tanzania	101	69
121	Thailand	24	26
122	Tunisia	73	29
123	Turkey	11	37
124	Uganda	83	104
125	Ukraine	15	30
126	United Arab Emirates	56	122
127	United States of America	1	61
128	Uruguay	96	109
129	Uzbekistan	62	113
130	Vietnam	19	68
131	Zambia	89	121
132	Zimbabwe	98	91

Table A1.

Rank in military strength and postal resilience score for 132 countries of the world.

Sources: (1) https://www.globalfirepower.com/countries-listing.php. (2) https://www.upu.int/UPU/media/upu/publications/postalDevelopmentReport2022.pdf.