DOD to drop Social Security numbers from all ID cards

WASHINGTON — Beginning June 1, Social Security numbers on military identification cards will begin to disappear, said Maj. Monica M. Matoush, a Pentagon spokeswoman.

The effort is part of a larger plan to protect service members and other Department of Defense identification cardholders from identity theft, officials said.

Criminals use Social Security numbers to steal identities, allowing them to pillage resources, establish credit, or to hijack credit cards, bank accounts or debit cards.
Currently, the Social Security number is printed on the back of common access cards and on the front of cards issued to dependents and retirees.

Beginning in June, when current cards expire, they will be replaced with new cards having a DOD identification number replacing the Social Security number, officials said.

The DOD identification number is a unique 10-digit number that is assigned to every person with a direct relationship to the department. The new number will also be the service member’s Geneva Convention identification number.

An 11-digit DOD benefits number also will appear on the cards of those people eligible for DOD benefits. The first nine digits are common to a sponsor, the official said, and the last two digits will identify a specific person within the sponsor’s family.

Social Security numbers embedded in the bar codes on the back of identification cards will remain there for the time being and will be phased out beginning in 2012. The department will replace identification cards as they expire.

The identity protection program began in 2008, when DOD started removing Social Security numbers from family member identification cards.