DOD Making IDs Less Vulnerable: As a means of combating identity theft, the Department of Defense over the next two years is phasing out the practice of issuing identification cards with the holder’s full social security number. Between 2009 and 2010, all DOD-issued identification cards will feature only the last four digits of the holder’s SSN, said Mary Dixon, director of the Defense Manpower Data Center, April 3. Modern information technology obviates the need to include the full social security numbers on ID cards of department employees and their family members, Dixon said. New identification cards will be issued as they reach their expiration dates. DOD Tricare has already removed SSNs from its members’ identification cards, she said. (DOD report by Gerry J. Gilmore)
The United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force has unveiled a new electronic warfare drone designed to fly with fighter jets into contested airspace, including alongside its fleet of F-35s. RAF says it plans to develop models that draw on the U.S. Air Force’s approach of mating unmanned systems with crewed platforms.