Azeezaly S. Jaffer, VP Public Affairs & Communications for the U.S. Postal Service, is no stranger to crisis management. He served in NASA's public affairs office during
the Challenger disaster and helped manage communications during numerous post office shootings in the 80s and 90s. Regardless, he says, the anthrax crisis -- not to mention the
announcement of $1.7 billion in losses in the fiscal year ended this September -- has taught even a seasoned crisis manager a few new tricks.
PR NEWS: How did your office organize and deploy its response to the anthrax crisis?
Jaffer: In my 22-year career in the public affairs business, this anthrax terrorist attack is really something I've never seen. I was home on a Monday holiday and MSNBC broke a
story that Newsweek was going to allege that the source of the deaths from anthrax in Florida was a letter. It was about 9 in the evening. I pulled a couple of my communications
people into the office, and we prepared a communication to go out to our field [offices] that evening saying there is a story out there, we don't know what the facts are, but we
are going to continue keeping you informed.
PR NEWS: Not all employees have been satisfied with your messages. Several local unions have launched lawsuits alleging that your organization endangered employees by allowing
post offices to remain open. How have you managed the unions and frightened employees?
Jaffer: From the first time this crisis was tied to the U.S. Mail, we have sat with the leadership of unions and management associations every morning. I couldn't ask for more
cooperation than we've had from them. Local union heads may not necessarily agree, and they choose a path unto themselves. To the best of my knowledge, none of them has been
successful.
We depend on all the agencies that advise us [the CDC and other health agencies], and we have followed their guidelines to a T. When it comes to the safety of employees, the
Postmaster General mandated nationwide testing of all our processing and distribution procedures, and this was done purely on a precautionary basis. We didn't wait for the CDC to
tell us to buy gloves and masks or to test employees.
PR NEWS: How has depending on and coordinating with those government agencies made this process even more of a challenge?
Jaffer: We realized quickly that what was good information an hour ago was not good information an hour later. For example, when there was a question about the Daschle letter
that had gone through the Brentwood office, the health authorities were saying there was a negligible chance for cross-contamination and that we could continue to work in
Brentwood. In fact, I went so far as to invite the whole press corps into Brentwood to hold a press conference.Eighteen hours later, they shut the building down. I, along with the
Postmaster General and many others, am on 60 days of Cipro.
If I am going to be speaking about a health issue or a criminal issue, I've coordinated with the CDC or the FBI . Otherwise, what I've learned is that if you have the facts,
and the facts have been validated by the folks that run those programs, [you] get the information out.
(Contact: Jaffer, 202/268-2000, [email protected])