EDITORIAL Too slow

Jul. 22, 2008 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- The federal government is employing an attitude of "do as I say, not as I do" when it comes to guarding Americans against identity theft.

The Federal Trade Commission, the nation's authority regarding prevention of these crimes, instructs Americans not to write Social Security numbers on their checks.

Yet the Internal Revenue Service tells Americans who are remitting tax payments to write their Social Security numbers right there on the memo line and send them through the U.S. mail. The agency told the Associated Press that it will cash a check without that information, but that's the way it will continue to instruct taxpayers.

The FTC also strongly discourages people from carrying around their Social Security cards or numbers. A thief can make all sorts of mischief with just a name and a Social Security number, never mind a home address and a birth date.

Yet Medicare has insisted that that's the magic number that will be used to identify 44 million beneficiaries on their insurance cards. Use of the Social Security number is so ingrained in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and in doctor's offices that work with Medicare that switching over would cost $500 million. The agency says that's too expensive, and nothing will change.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Defense issues identity cards for millions of troops on active and reserve duty -- and for their dependents -- and all the cards include Social Security numbers. The Pentagon will remove that information from ID cards gradually beginning this year, but the numbers won't all be gone until 2014.

The Defense Department should have given this project more urgency, considering that the thefts of American identities have been tied to terrorism, illegal immigration and drug trafficking.

In fact, all of these agencies should show more urgency about the issue. States have come a long way in preventing identity theft and aiding the victims in recent years, but the crime continues to be a plague that damages victims' finances, credit ratings and reputations.

Universities, private businesses and many state governments have eliminated unnecessary use of Social Security numbers. The federal government should follow suit.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0147-26838430