July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Indentities of military personnel at risk (03/15/08)
Letter to the Editor
To the editor:
The March 7 edition of The Commercial Review contained an editorial by Jack Ronald expressing his anger over military personnel being shortchanged in the upcoming tax rebate. Such treatment of troops doesn't surprise me. There's no doubt the following info will also raise your blood pressure to the critical level. Bear with me.
On May 3, 2006, a data analyst employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs in the Washington, D.C. area, in violation of policy, took home electronic computer data. His home was broken into and the data stolen.
Information on 26 million veterans was compromised, with emphasis on social security numbers. Since then, a number of reports have appeared in the national news concerning the mishandling of personal computer info and its public exposure by various organizations.
Again, the main concern was the release of social security numbers.
Probably influenced by the loss of SSNs before the May 3 incident, Indiana Senate Enrolled Act 503, effective July 1, 2005, addressed this issue by enacting stiffer safeguards for protecting these numbers.
All military personnel, on release from active duty, are strongly encouraged to have their discharge papers recorded in a county recorder's office.
Beginning Jan. 1, 2006, all county recorders were instructed to not receive documents with exposed SSNs unless required by law. Only after a requester shows positive I.D. and/or a legal need, will documents with these numbers be issued. Additional safeguards were also required by county recorders.
The Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs has issued its own stringent directive on this SSN issue, which makes our job as county veterans service officers more challenging.
All of these requirements are necessary for security reasons and I endorse them. So where are the ingredients for triggering your blood pressure?
On Aug. 17, 1955, the military code of conduct went into effect, directing the conduct of U.S. military personnel when captured by an opposing force.
Article six states when captured you are to reveal only your name, rank, service and date of birth. This code is drilled into every recruit and re-emphasized before deploying into harm's way.
Since Oct. 1, 1974, your social security number is your service number. This number is also on your identification tag (dog tag).
The Department of Defense will have you believe they are doing all they can to safeguard the wellbeing of our troops under all conditions.
In spite of the steps taken by various states and the federal government to restrict the release of these numbers to other U.S. citizens, our military personnel are required by the code of conduct to reveal their social security number to some stranger who was trying to kill them and still might. This is beyond comprehension, but typical of the federal government.
I have e-mailed Sen. John McCain concerning this, but as of yet have received no response. Nor did the Department of Defense reply.
I truly believe that if Uncle Sam were to invent the toothpick tomorrow, it would have eight moving parts, six transistors and a maintenance manual.
Perhaps reverting to the previous number system is too complicated. Meanwhile, with computers in use worldwide, our military, by obeying the rules they're required to uphold, are at high risk of having personal information exposed to the most radical anti-Americans on the planet.
Roy Leverich
Portland[[In-content Ad]]
The March 7 edition of The Commercial Review contained an editorial by Jack Ronald expressing his anger over military personnel being shortchanged in the upcoming tax rebate. Such treatment of troops doesn't surprise me. There's no doubt the following info will also raise your blood pressure to the critical level. Bear with me.
On May 3, 2006, a data analyst employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs in the Washington, D.C. area, in violation of policy, took home electronic computer data. His home was broken into and the data stolen.
Information on 26 million veterans was compromised, with emphasis on social security numbers. Since then, a number of reports have appeared in the national news concerning the mishandling of personal computer info and its public exposure by various organizations.
Again, the main concern was the release of social security numbers.
Probably influenced by the loss of SSNs before the May 3 incident, Indiana Senate Enrolled Act 503, effective July 1, 2005, addressed this issue by enacting stiffer safeguards for protecting these numbers.
All military personnel, on release from active duty, are strongly encouraged to have their discharge papers recorded in a county recorder's office.
Beginning Jan. 1, 2006, all county recorders were instructed to not receive documents with exposed SSNs unless required by law. Only after a requester shows positive I.D. and/or a legal need, will documents with these numbers be issued. Additional safeguards were also required by county recorders.
The Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs has issued its own stringent directive on this SSN issue, which makes our job as county veterans service officers more challenging.
All of these requirements are necessary for security reasons and I endorse them. So where are the ingredients for triggering your blood pressure?
On Aug. 17, 1955, the military code of conduct went into effect, directing the conduct of U.S. military personnel when captured by an opposing force.
Article six states when captured you are to reveal only your name, rank, service and date of birth. This code is drilled into every recruit and re-emphasized before deploying into harm's way.
Since Oct. 1, 1974, your social security number is your service number. This number is also on your identification tag (dog tag).
The Department of Defense will have you believe they are doing all they can to safeguard the wellbeing of our troops under all conditions.
In spite of the steps taken by various states and the federal government to restrict the release of these numbers to other U.S. citizens, our military personnel are required by the code of conduct to reveal their social security number to some stranger who was trying to kill them and still might. This is beyond comprehension, but typical of the federal government.
I have e-mailed Sen. John McCain concerning this, but as of yet have received no response. Nor did the Department of Defense reply.
I truly believe that if Uncle Sam were to invent the toothpick tomorrow, it would have eight moving parts, six transistors and a maintenance manual.
Perhaps reverting to the previous number system is too complicated. Meanwhile, with computers in use worldwide, our military, by obeying the rules they're required to uphold, are at high risk of having personal information exposed to the most radical anti-Americans on the planet.
Roy Leverich
Portland[[In-content Ad]]
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