Officials push for agency scrutiny in Social Security number usage

The chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee wants agencies to finish what they started years ago, and focus on protecting the Social Security numbers of federal employees.

In a letter to Government Accountability Office Comptroller Gene Dodaro, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) asked how much progress agencies have made in reviewing their systems and programs to reduce the number of instances where Social Security numbers are collected.

The Office of Management and Budget last ordered agencies to review their record-keeping of Social Security numbers in May 2007.

“Given this clear direction from OMB, the Committee is interested in learning what actions agencies have taken to reduce the use of SSNs government-wide, what actions OMB has taken to ensure agencies have adhered to its directive, and what progress has been made in reducing the use of SSNs across the federal government,” Chaffetz said in the letter.

The Office of Personnel Management, under former director John Berry, made an attempt to stop using Social Security numbers as the primary identification for federal systems in order to fight identity theft. But OPM shuttered the plan in January 2010, citing the time and cost of setting up a new ID system for agencies to use.

Karen Evans, former administrator of the Office of Electronic Government and Information Technology at OMB, told Federal News Radio that most agencies have been collecting Social Security numbers broadly out of convenience.

“What they really need to be doing is [asking] ‘Why am I collecting this Social Security number, have I declared the proper use of the collection of that? And then is it necessary for me to continue to do that, or is there another way that I can match the data and sent it to the appropriate for the proper accounting?” Evans said.

Last year’s massive data breach at OPM, which compromised the sensitive information of more than 22 million people, adds urgency to the discussion around information privacy. Evans said data collection governmentwide hasn’t been meeting the standards outlined in the Privacy Act and E-Government Act.

“If you go to a job board site, and you’re just applying for the job, and they’re asking for your Social Security number during the application phase, that is out of convenience. That is not a necessity, you don’t need to provide it until you actually get hired,” Evans said.  “You don’t really need it until you’re at the final stages of vetting the employee or creating the personnel records … The argument is I need to have the Social Security number because I have to report their wages to the IRS, so you can match up the wages with the taxes they’re supposed to be providing. And that’s the only reason why you’re really supposed to be looking at using a Social Security number.”

The Defense Department already has DoD ID numbers for Pentagon employees, while the Veterans Affairs Department issues ID numbers to beneficiaries. OPM also relies on an ID number system to keep track of federal retirees.

“I have a retiree number at OPM, and it has nothing to do with with my Social Security number or anything,” Evans said. “There’s other data that’s associated with it, but in essence it’s like a case number.”

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