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Editorial: Keep SSNs secure

The 30,812 candidates for sergeant first class got a dose of bad news earlier this year, whether or not they made the cut for promotion: Their names and Social Security numbers were compromised when the list was inadvertently posted on the Internet following a February selection board.

The source of the breach is still undetermined, but Criminal Investigation Command agents have since discovered that a 2005 list of 20,000 master sergeant candidates also was compromised.

Fortunately, there are no known incidents of identity theft tied to this breach. But it is nevertheless dumbfounding that the Army continues to use SSNs so widely.

Local, state and federal agencies, as well as commercial businesses, have been scrambling to scrub SSNs from personal information exactly because it can serve as a digital key that can ransack bank accounts and trash credit ratings. The Defense Department’s new Common Access Card does not use SSNs, for example.

So it is good to see that the Army says it has learned a lesson and has removed SSNs from future promotion lists.

Now top commanders should do two more things:

First, they should ensure soldiers whose identities were compromised have access to free credit reports for at least a year so they can monitor and flag any suspicious activity.

Second, they should seek out and fix other potential points of failure. They can start at Army and Air Force Exchange Service stores, where customers are required to show an ID with an SSN when paying by check or seeking refunds. Because the new official military ID no longer includes the number, AAFES is demanding a second form of ID, such as a Social Security card.

That’s ridiculous. In this day and age, there are too many other ways to ensure a soldier’s identity.

DISCUSS: Using SSNs for identification