Recently a young Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) staffer pled guilty to charges of fraudulently obtaining the credit report of Maryland Republican Senatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Michael Steele using Steele's Social Security number. This is not a commentary on American political culture. It is easy enough to imagine a zealous staffer trying to get ahead through a creative but shady tactic and - in fairness - the DSCC higher-ups did exactly the right thing in ordering the credit report destroyed and reporting the affair to the U.S. Attorneys.

More interesting is that a young staffer, without any particular criminal or investigative experience obtained such sensitive information so easily. Identity theft is a fast-growing criminal problem and social security numbers are the keys to the kingdom. But this is not simply a criminal issue. The 9/11 Commission Report notes that the ability of terrorists to travel undetected is crucial to planning major attacks. This is not a call for a national ID. Security consultant Bruce Schneier, criticizing Britain's proposed national ID scheme notes:

Having a single ID is much more dangerous [than multiple IDs]. ID theft is fraud due to impersonation. If you have a centralised ID card, you are making that ID that much more valuable to criminals....ID can be hijacked, and cards can be faked. All of the 9/11 terrorists had fake IDs, yet they still got on the planes. If the British national ID card can't be faked, it will be the first on the planet."

National IDs may have some advantages. But currently, in the U.S., SSNs are the defacto ID for many sensitive matters, and they are poorly secured. In effect, on ID issues, the U.S. has the worst of both.