DOD to miss deadline for removing Social Security numbers from IDs

[unhappycamper]

DOD to miss deadline for removing Social Security numbers from IDs
By Charlie Reed, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, December 4, 2009

The Defense Department will not meet its end-of-the-year deadline for removing Social Security numbers from military ID cards as they are issued or renewed, the Pentagon has confirmed.

It is not clear how much progress, if any, has been made toward meeting that goal or any aspect of a sweeping identity theft protection plan the DOD established last year. It came at the direction of the White House, which in 2007 required all federal agencies to begin eliminating the use of Social Security numbers when possible to help prevent fraud. There are approximately 12 million military ID cards in circulation, although not all have social security numbers, according to the Pentagon.

Military officials have refused repeated requests from Stars and Stripes for interviews regarding the matter since October and provided the following statement Wednesday: “The Department of Defense is committed to removal of the Social Security number on Common Access Card (CAC). Further information regarding this effort will be provided as it becomes available.”

Despite an Oct. 16 statement from the Pentagon saying the goal was on track to be met, spokeswoman Maj. April Cunningham on Tuesday said the military would not meet its self-imposed December 2009 deadline for phasing out Social Security numbers on ID cards.

Eliminating the sensitive numbers from ID cards was supposed to be the easiest part of the DOD Social Security Number Reduction Plan, Mary Dixon, director of Defense Manpower Data Center, told Stars and Stripes in 2008. The more challenging aspect, she said, would be overhauling the military’s record-keeping procedures and computer information systems for pay, benefits and health care.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=66444

[doc03]

1. It's a shame we even have to worry about such things

today. When I was in the army our SS number was stenciled on our duffel bags where anyone could see it.

[LiberalFighter]

2. I would give them some latitude in completing the process of changing the ID cards.

That imo would take the longest and be expensive. If they do it in stages it would work out better. New would automatically get ID without SSNs. Those leaving but still needing ID but different cards. And then probably unit by unit so that the CO's would be responsible for distribution of the new ID's and accounting that everyone in their unit received them.

The computer end of it should be easier. I would imagine that it should already be up and running with the new ID already included. Just a matter of changing the forms they use and what they put on the checks.

[PavePusher]

3. Doesn't work quite as you have described.

Each individual has to go to the ID office in person. The cards need fingerprint scans, current (i.e. new) face photo and a personalized PIN input to the system. Then it takes a while for the computer to program the card chip (it's a very slow system and varies by the traffic load).

It's going to take a while.