The General Accounting Office (GAO) has released a study of the Social Security Administration's (SSA) procedures for issuing social security numbers (SSNs) to noncitizens. The GAO found that the SSA has taken steps to prevent the inappropriate assignment of SSNs to noncitizens. SSA staff must now verify noncitizens' identity documents with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and continues to require visual inspection of the documents prior to issuing a SSN. The GAO said it found some weaknesses in this process, as some SSA field staff interviewed "are relying heavily on DHS's verification while neglecting SSA's standing inspection practices, even though both approaches are necessary."

The SSA has also launched initiatives to ease the burden on field offices by implementing "Enumeration at Entry" (EAE), which relies on the State Department and the DHS to authenticate information provided by applicants.

The report finds that the SSA actions to strengthen the process are accompanied by persisting weaknesses in two areas of its enumeration process, areas which "could be exploited by individuals – citizens and noncitizens alike – seeking fraudulent SSNs." The two areas are the assignment of SSNs to children under age 1 and replacement Social Security Cards.

GAO investigators posing as parents of newborns were able to obtain two SSNs using counterfeit documents. The study also finds that replacement cards can be obtained by citizens with "relatively weak documentation," which then could be used for illicit purposes or sold to noncitizens.

The GAO recommends that the SSA further strengthen its enumeration policies. Specifically, the GAO suggests that the SSA perform systematic reviews of field office compliance, enhance the modernized enumeration system, develop an evaluation plan to assess the EAE initiative, revise its requirement for verification of birth records of U.S. citizens who apply for an SSN to require third-party verification of the birth records of children under age 1, and reassess policies for issuing replacement Social Security cards to deter abuse.

This report is available online at: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0412.pdf