UCMJ Article 109a: Mail Matter Offenses

Article 109a protects mail before it reaches the addressee. Taking mail with intent to obstruct someone’s correspondence or pry into their business or secrets is one offense; wrongfully opening, hiding, destroying, or stealing mail is another, with no such intent required. Both carry the same maximum: a dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and 5 years. The value of the mail does not matter.

Two offenses

10 U.S.C. § 909a has two subsections:

• (a) Taking: a person who, “with the intent to obstruct the correspondence of, or to pry into the business or secrets of, any person or organization, wrongfully takes mail matter before the mail matter is delivered to or received by the addressee.”
• (b) Opening, secreting, destroying, stealing: a person who “wrongfully opens, secretes, destroys, or steals mail matter before the mail matter is delivered to or received by the addressee.”

The Manual for Courts-Martial (2024 ed.), Part IV, ¶ 46.b, sets out the elements accordingly: the act, its wrongfulness, timing before delivery or receipt, and, for taking only, the intent to obstruct or pry.

Before January 1, 2019, these were Article 134 offenses that required proof of prejudice to good order and discipline or service-discrediting conduct. The Military Justice Act of 2016 created Article 109a (Pub. L. 114-328, § 5421).

What “mail matter” covers

Under ¶ 46.c, “mail matter” means “any matter deposited in a postal system of any government or any authorized depository thereof or in official mail channels of the United States or an agency thereof including the armed forces.” That reaches foreign postal systems and military official mail channels as well as the U.S. Postal Service.

Two further points from the same paragraph:

• “The value of the mail matter is not an element.” Opening an envelope with nothing of value inside is the same offense as opening one with cash.
• “Steal” carries the meaning given for larceny in ¶ 64.c(1), the Article 121 paragraph.

The protection ends when the mail is delivered to or received by the addressee. What happens to a letter after that point is governed by other articles, such as larceny for theft of its contents.

Which subsection fits

The taking offense requires a specific purpose: to obstruct the correspondence of, or pry into the business or secrets of, a person or organization. Subsection (b) requires none; wrongfully opening, hiding, destroying, or stealing the mail before delivery is enough. In both, the government must still prove the act was wrongful (¶ 46.b).

Article 109a maximum for both offenses

Under ¶ 46.d, both offenses carry a dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and confinement for 5 years.

Larceny of contents, stolen cards, and obscene mail

Taking property out of the mail with intent to deprive the owner can also be larceny under Article 121, and using a stolen credit or debit card from the mail is Article 121a. Mailing obscene matter, the opposite direction, is Article 120a.

Sources

• 10 U.S.C. § 909a, Article 109a, Mail matter: wrongful taking, opening, etc. (Cornell LII)
• Manual for Courts-Martial, United States (2024 ed.), Part IV, ¶ 46

General information about military law, not legal advice for any individual case.