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OMB Moves to Safeguard Social Security Numbers

By Stephen Barr, washingtonpost.com
Thursday, May 24, 2007; Page D04

Federal agencies must review their use of Social Security numbers and come up with a plan in 120 days to eliminate their unnecessary collection and use within 18 months, the Office of Management and Budget said in a memo released yesterday.

"Safeguarding personally identifiable information in the possession of the government and preventing its breach are essential to ensure the government retains the trust of the American public," wrote Clay Johnson III, a deputy director at the OMB.

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The government has suffered through a spate of security breaches -- some involved Social Security numbers and other personal data -- that could put current and former employees at risk of identity theft.

Karen Evans, OMB's technology chief, said that Johnson's memo had been in the works for months as part of an effort to draw up a comprehensive policy on how to respond to security breaches -- from hackers attacking computer networks to the loss of an office Rolodex.

The government collects billions of records -- for taxes, grants, Medicare and other benefits -- to run programs or provide services to the public. Johnson's memo reminded agencies that they have a legal obligation, under the Privacy Act of 1974 and the 2004 Federal Information Security Management Act, to protect personal data.

In addition to setting a deadline for agencies to review their handling of Social Security numbers, the OMB directs agencies to develop and implement notification policies, appropriate to the possible risks caused by a breach of personal information, and to take steps to protect federal information on laptops and other mobile devices through encryption, time-out functions and other controls.

The memo also calls on agencies to ensure that federal employees are informed and trained on their responsibilities to protect Social Security numbers and other personal information.

Earlier this month, the Transportation Security Administration reported the apparent theft of an external computer hard drive containing bank information and Social Security numbers for 100,000 current and former TSA employees, including airport security officers and federal air marshals.

More than 100 people have been interviewed in the investigation, a TSA spokesman said. The drive was taken from a secure area in the human resources office at the agency's Pentagon City headquarters. More than 20,000 current and former TSA employees have registered for free identity protection, the spokesman said.

Federal officials recently removed Social Security numbers and other data on 63,000 people from a loans and grants database, part of a Census Bureau Web site, after an Illinois farmer discovered the information while surfing the Internet.

Other agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Los Alamos National Laboratory, have also discovered security breaches involving Social Security numbers.

"The OMB needs to do a much better job of enforcing the Privacy Act across the federal government than it has done so far," said Marc Rotenberg, executive director at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, which monitors civil liberties issues.

"People are tired of reading about security breaches and being told to sign up for credit monitoring services. If the federal government can't protect the information, then it shouldn't collect it," he said.