James Lockhart III, deputy commissioner of Social Security, told a Senate Finance subcommittee Thursday that the new electronic verification process would start next week. The lack of such a system was a major criticism after Sept. 11, when officials initially thought terrorists had legally obtained Social Security numbers.
Social Security could not verify visa status or other immigration documents for all non-citizens because no system was available to do so in a reasonable amount of time. An enhanced system is being put in place, and if documents still can't be checked electronically, the job will be done manually.
Last month, Social Security started verifying birth records submitted by U.S.-born citizens over age 1 applying for a Social Security number, Lockhart said.
The administration also is implementing a system that will assign Social Security numbers to new immigrants when the State Department approves an immigrant visa at a foreign service post and the INS authorizes entry. The first phase should be completed by year's end, Lockhart said.
Social Security wants to make the numbers "less accessible to those with criminal intent as well as prevent individuals from using false or stolen birth records or immigration documents to obtain" them, he said.
Allegations of Social Security number fraud have increased from 11,000 to 65,000 from 1998 to last year.
A bill by Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Judd Gregg, R-N.H., would ban the sale or display of a person's Social Security number without his or her consent. Exceptions would be made for business and government operations. Starting in 2005, Social Security numbers would have to be removed from 11 public records before public release, including birth and death certificates, marriage licenses, occupational licenses, property records and court judgments.
But some companies have concerns that access to the numbers would be too restrictive. Government agencies, law enforcement, businesses and researchers rely on such information to do their jobs, said Norman Willox Jr., chief officer for privacy, industry and regulatory affairs for LexisNexis, the online information service.
LexisNexis lets customers use the numbers as a search term, but prohibits the display of full numbers. That prevents people from discovering new numbers, but preserves the ability of people who already know a number to use it for identification purposes, Willox said.
The numbers have been used by LexisNexis customers to locate missing children, identify and prevent fraud, enforce child support obligations, find pension fund beneficiaries and assist with debt collection.
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