The government is a little inconsistent when it comes to personal security issues.

I pay my college-age daughter’s TRICARE bills, but TRICARE won’t send me any of the documentation I need to pay them unless my daughter tells them in writing that it’s OK to share with me.

We have to sign privacy act statements left and right in filling out official documents.

The occasional loss or theft of a computer file with servicemembers’ personal information sends the government and servicemembers alike into an understandable tizzy.

And yet our military ID cards have our SSNs emblazoned right next to our names. ID card holders routinely hand their cards to security guards and airline and hotel clerks. We hand them over to supermarket checkers so they can copy the SSN onto our checks.  When someone we need to do business with demands two forms of ID, we have to hand them a document with our name and SSN on it.

Other government agencies that traditionally have used SSNs for identification purposes have developed alternatives to better protect against potential identity theft. Many states now allow citizens the option of having an alternate identification number on their drivers’ licenses. Medicare is reviewing the possibility of using a different identifier on Medicare cards.

MOAA thinks it’s time for DoD to do the same, and we urged the House and Senate Armed Services committees earlier this year to support a similar initiative for the military. Now, that effort has borne fruit.

In its report on the FY 2007 Defense Authorization Bill in May, the House Armed Services Committee directed Pentagon leaders to review the feasibility of offering an alternative identification number on military ID cards and provide a report to Congress by March 31, 2007.

Col. Steve Strobridge, USAF-Ret., director of MOAA government relations