Congress has gotten slightly more serious about attempting to safeguard social security numbers for military members. The issue surfaced earlier this year during the data theft debacle at Veterans Affairs. Buried in the just passed 2007 defense authorization bill is a demand for DOD to provide an “assessment” of the “feasibility” of using military ID cards without an individual’s social security number. The Pentagon must submit said assessment within 180 days of the defense bill becoming law.
An F-16 pilot was awarded a Silver Star for a harrowing mission in which he dodged multiple surface-to-air missiles during the opening weeks of the operation against the Houthis in Yemen earlier this year.
