The Social Security Administration too loosely manages the
process by which it issues Social Security numbers to
children, often needed for their parents’ income tax
returns and to apply for government benefits, and which
are also vulnerable to theft and misuse, the Government
Accountability Office has said.
Federal internal control standards have agencies assess
and mitigate risk, but GAO took issue with SSA for not
conducting “comprehensive integrity reviews,” and for not
coordinating with external auditors to ensure it collects
vital statistics properly and protects children’s
enumeration data.
The agency does not yet have in place an efficient process
for verifying birth certificates applied for through field
offices, though a pilot project was successful doing so,
according to GAO-05-115.
It said the agency also lacks a policy for securing and
tracking birth certificates following manual verification,
and its policy allowing up to up to 52 replacement cards
for children under the age of one every year expose the
program to fraud.
GAO said the Intelligence Reform And Terrorism Prevention
Act of 2004 would help SSA protect the SSNs by requiring
verification of birth documents for all SSN applicants
and limit replacement cards, of which it issued two
million in 2004.
