Times Reading Log

"Easy Numbers for ID Theft, Lightly Guarded by Military"

The article from the New York Times has a stellar lead: "The government warns Americans to closely guard their Social Security numbers. But it has done a poor job of protecting those same numbers for millions of people: the nation’s soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines."  It is tight, interesting and informing. 

At bases and outposts military personel use their Social Security Numbers very casually.  They even write them on their laundry bags.  This puts them at a heightened risk for identity theft. 

A West Point professor said that the  military needs to rids itself of this practice that they have had since the 1960's.  Representatives from the military say they are aware of the problem and are taking steps to fix it.  Now the SSN's will no longer appear on Military I.D. cards.

Last year SSN's were used in 32% of identity thefts.  3.3% of active military personnel had been victims of such fraud that year, slightly below the 3.7 percent in the public at large.

Officials said some of the soldiers had been singled out because they were stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan where they would be slow to catch on to the fraud. That is precisely the fear of military officials concerning the vulnerability of soldiers, the NY Times reported.

I really like this article, but it makes me realize why as a young reporter I need to keep my articles under a thousand words.