Agencies take steps to safeguard data.

• Author: Swartz, Nikki
• Position: UP FRONT

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has ordered all federal agencies to eliminate the unnecessary collection and use of Social Security numbers by 2009.

That order and several other new security measures to combat data breaches and identity theft were outlined in a memo to all department and agency heads from Clay Johnson III, deputy director for management of the OMB.

According to an Associated Press (AP) report, Johnson gave the agencies 120 days to review all their files for instances in which the use of Social Security numbers is superfluous and "establish a plan in which the agency will eliminate the unnecessary collection and use of Social Security numbers within 18 months."

In addition, he directed agencies to review all information they have that could be used to identify an individual citizen or employee, to ensure such records are accurate, and "to reduce them to the minimum necessary for the proper performance" of their duties.

The order is based on the principle that "the federal government should not unnecessarily collect or maintain personally identifiable information," OMB spokesman Sean Kevelighan told the AP. By requiring agencies to reduce such data to a minimum, the agency hopes the risk of harm from identity theft will decline, he added.

The order stems from several high-profile data breaches that occurred over the past few years. Last year, for example, the Veterans Affairs Department reported that a laptop computer with information for more than 26.5 million military personnel, including data on 2.2 million active-duty military, Guard, and Reserve members, had been stolen from a department employee.

After that breach, a House Government Reform Committee investigation revealed that 19 agencies had lost personal information about thousands of employees and the public in 788 separate incidents since January 2003.

And it didn't end with the VA breach. In April, an Illinois farmer alerted the...