OPM backs off Fed SSN ban

The Office of Personnel Management thought it had a good idea for one brief moment when it announced plans last month to abandon the use of Social Security numbers in the federal systems in a move to help fight ID theft.

However last week, OPM Director John Berry said he's withdrawing the plan because the federal government would have had to come up with another identifier to use, a process likely to be time consuming to put into effect, not to mention expensive.

Under the proposal, agencies would have been barred from using SSNs as the primary identification for employees in internal or external data processing systems. But Berry received plenty of criticism about his proposal.

"Comments centered on the numerous systems and business practices, both internal and external to government systems, which use the SSN as a primary identifier," Berry said. "Systems and processes cited included electronic recruitment systems, payment of various federal benefits [health related, Social Security, worker's compensation, etc.], determinations for security clearances, taxpayer identification and union dues withholding through payroll deduction, among others."

What's the solution? No one is sure, yet. It could be that an SSN, in conjunction with a password, might do the trick. Or, it may take better security to keep SSNs from getting hacked in the first place.

Don't worry about it now. It's looking like SSNs will be used by the federal government for the foreseeable future.

For more on SSNs and the federal government:
- see this nextgov.com article

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