Q7.    What officer has responsibility for safeguarding classified material in an activity? Q8. By what means should Top Secret material be transmitted? OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE LEARNING OBJECTIVE: Identify the elements of naval correspondence, including standard letters, endorsements, memoran- dums, and naval messages. Official correspondence in the Navy includes all recorded communications sent or received by naval personnel in the execution of the duties of their office. Besides letters, correspondence includes memoran- dums and endorsements as well as messages that are transmitted by electronic means. Within the Navy, letters are prepared in accordance with procedures outlined in the Department of the Navy Correspondence Manual, SECNAVINST 5216.5. SECNAVINST 5216.5 outlines procedures to write standard and business letters. SECNAVINST 5216.5 also outlines procedures for the preparation of memorandums and endorsements. Naval messages are prepared in accordance with procedures outlined in Naval Telecommunications Procedures User’s Manual, NTP 3. HANDLING INCOMING MAIL A local instruction normally prescribes procedures for handling incoming and outgoing mail in individual activities. However, there are some general guidelines that you should follow when handling personal and official mail. Therefore, you need to be familiar with your department’s incoming mail-handling procedures. The volume of mail that is received by naval activities makes it desirable to eliminate unnecessary operations whenever possible. It is important to ensure, however, that a record of all important official correspondence is maintained. Experience and judgment are required to determine what mail should be controlled and what controls can be maintained most effectively. You should sort mail when it arrives at the maintenance office. To do this, separate personal mail from official mail, and separate mail that can be directly routed from mail that should be controlled. Once separated, place routine personal and official mail (as appropriate) in a secure designated area for divisional pickup or deliver the mail to the appropriate division or work center. Personally addressed mail falls into two categories—purely personal mail and personally addressed official mail. You should discourage the reception of personally addressed mail at the office because personally addressed mail interferes with the handling of official mail. Personally addressed official mail and correspondence are hard to route and control; therefore, these are not encouraged. A certain amount of such mail will be received, however, and should be delivered unopened whenever possible. Official mail is routed without opening whenever possible. If information on the envelope does not clearly indicate the intended organizational division or office, official mail should be opened so it can be routed. When mail must be opened, the sorter should read its contents only as far as it is required to determine its destination. Mail that requires priority handling should be delivered promptly. Personally addressed mail (official and routine) that does not require control will make up the bulk of the mail you receive at each mail call. The remainder of the incoming mail will consist of correspondence that requires some type of control. Mail control is defined as any procedure that is used to make a record of the receipt, location, or dispatch of mail. This definition includes logging or preparing other records to indicate receipt and includes obtaining signatures for classified and registered mail, following up to ensure action, and providing information on the location of an item. The important thing to remember about mail that requires control is that you should never accept or distribute classified or registered mail without authorization and then only when you provide or obtain a signature. Refer to your activity’s mail and correspondence handling procedures for mail that falls in this category. Mail controls require additional work and ensuing delays and should be used only for selected types of important mail. Yet, it should be emphasized that some controls are definitely needed for certain types of mail. CORRESPONDENCE PREPARATION As an AZ, you must be able to type an official letter correctly and neatly. Every division of the maintenance department where you serve is likely to draft at least an occasional letter for the department head’s signature or release. In a maintenance administration office, correspondence preparation will make up a good portion of your daily work routine. 2-7