If there’s one thing that is evident about the military from the minute a citizen decides to join, it’s that the social security number takes on a whole new meaning than just helping to apply for credit.
Virtually every form we fill out in the military has a block that demands our SSN. For years, I’ve tried to negate possible stolen identity issues by only using part of my SSN, or none at all if there isn’t a privacy act statement prominently featured on the document. I’ve gotten into some good discussions about this with people of all ranks. I refuse to put my SSN on anything without a privacy act statement on it and when they mention that they will add it later, I tell them that is illegal.
Well, the military is finally doing something about this. I received the following All Army Activities (ALARACT) message today from DOD:
EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY ALL ARMY UNITS WILL DISCONTINUE USE OF THE
COMPLETE SSN ON FORMS ASSOCIATED WITH AR 600-55. ONLY THE LAST FOUR DIGITS
OF THE SSN WILL BE USED INSTEAD OF THE FULL SSN.
I’m glad that we’re finally understanding the risks associated with putting a Soldier’s SSN on so many documents. It wouldn’t be such a bad thing if the military was good at protecting that information.
As one of my functions in the military, I perform OPSEC and security sweeps for units. I have the pleasure of rummaging through dumpsters and trash cans looking for information that the adversary can use against us. That adversary doesn’t have to be a foreign military or government. Sometimes, that adversary is a criminal wanting to use our private information to commit fraud and steal our identities.
When I was at Ft. Stewart, it appeared that the unit’s S1 was cleaning out its file cabinets. I found so many personal documents, most of which contained SSNs, that I was able to completely fill out credit card and mortgage applications. I actually filled out applications of a few people in the unit and took both the documents I found and the completed applications (with forged signatures that I found on documents as well) as part of my outbrief to the unit leadership. It was eye-opening.
After one exercise, I found an entire Brigade’s hand receipt that showed every single weapon, vehicle, and piece of equipment (including intelligence assets) in that Brigade. This is important information that the enemy would love to have, especially if the unit was getting ready for a deployment.
Because of my training and the things I’ve personally witnessed, I’ve always advised people not to put their SSN on anything that they aren’t legally required to put it on. If it doesn’t have a Privacy Act notice attached, it isn’t required.
This new change in policy will go a LONG way to protecting the identities and financial standings of our troops! However, I predict that identity fraud will get worse before it gets better as units update their records to conform with this new policy and don’t properly destroy the old stuff containing the numbers. I hope that our troops understand the threat and burn up their shredders throwing out this information.
